Lord Harry James Potter Black Peverell Gol
by ultimate emperor
Summary: post GOF harry finds an orb that grants wishes, and allows harry to inherit his ancestory, along with marrage contracts, better than it sounds, good ron, slight crossover with one piece
1. Chapter 1 rewrite

A fifteen year old Harry potter was sitting on his bed. It had been a week since the beginning of the summer vacations and the only letters that he had received from his friends and godfather didn't say much, but simply asked about him. Harry had also noticed someone was always across the road in an invisibility cloak, and had noted the time's the people changed.

But harry was looking at the orb that he had found in his room; he had found it three minutes ago and was staring at it while some sort of mist was rolling around in it _"obviously"_ harry thought_ "it is some sort of magical orb, but how did it get here? Anyways, I should just smash it" _harry smashed the orb and watched as the white mist rolled out to turn into a sort of shroud in shape of a man "who broke my orb" the shroud asked in a deep voice "m-me" harry replied fearing for his life

The figure nodded and said "you have been granted three wishes" harry blinked and said "what?" "You have been granted three wishes" the figure repeated "but remember, you cannot wish for someone to die, someone to love you or to bring someone back from the dead, also you cannot ask for more than three wishes"

Harry stared at the being for a few moments then said "my first wish is for you to give me perfect eyesight" the figure nodded "the second is for you to remove the trace from me" the figure nodded again "and the third is for peak physical condition" the figure nodded and then bright light emerged from the figure that hit harry, causing him to stumble.

A few seconds later harry got up again and removed his glasses and looked at the figure which said "you have perfect eyesight, not to mention you can observe even the fastest of objects and notice even the most minute of details. You also have a more muscular body but not too muscular."

With that the figure, and the orb shard disappeared, leaving harry alone to contemplate his powers.

**XXXXXXX**

The next day harry got to the dining table and saw aunt petunia cooking breakfast and quietly cast a notice me not charm on himself, then cast a compulsion charm on the three Dursley's after breakfast, harry slipped into Vernon's car making sure to hide behind Vernon's bulk, and forced him to stop near the leaky cauldron on his way to work.

After Vernon dropped harry at the leaky cauldron, harry quietly slipped into diagon alley and rushed into Gringotts and approached a free teller "I'm harry potter and I need to see my accounts manager" the teller called out "sawtooth" and a goblin entered from one of the side doors "take Mr. potter to rockhammer" the goblin nodded and quietly and led harry into an office of another goblin and announced "lord harry potter" then left.

The other goblin said "greetings lord potter what would you require today?" harry replied "call me harry, and I want to review my accounts and properties the goblin nodded and presented harry a large sheet of parchment and a dagger "a drop of your blood on the parchment please" harry complied and watched as the blood turned black and turned into words

_Harry James potter _

_15 years old_

_Titles_

_Duke Potter_

_Marquess Black_

_Earl Peverell_

_Baron Gol_

_Money_

_Potter vault-5,137,000 galleons, 12 sickles, 7 Knuts_

_Black vault-3,426,000 galleons, 16 sickles, 28 Knuts_

_Peverell vault-1,123,746 galleons, 7 sickles, 2 Knuts_

_Gol vault-950,756 galleons, 3 sickles, 17 Knuts_

_Properties_

_Potter castle-Herefordshire_

_Potter manor-Bangor _

_Potter cottage-Godric's hollow_

_15 abbey house-London_

_Potter villa-Nice, France_

_Black castle- Shropshire_

_12 grimmauld place-London_

_Peverell manor-Lancaster_

_Gol cottage-Clarence_

_Gol island-Caribbean _

Harry turned to rockhammer who said "you can claim these titles, vaults and properties when you come of age or demand for them" harry looked at the sheet again and asked "black family?" to which the goblin replied "In his will Sirius black had made you his heir, and due to his being declared a fugitive, you get the black family name and everything else"

Harry nodded and said "I demand that I be given these titles and everything they pertain" rockhammer nodded and pulled out a box and opened it to show four rings, he then pulled out one and gave it to harry and said "potter family ring"

it was a platinum band with a crest with a blue background and a large white phoenix on it with the words _nunquam retro tenus_ written on the band "what does the phase mean?" harry asked rockhammer who replied "never back down. It was the motto of the house of potter" harry nodded and put the ring on his middle finger in the right hand were it fit perfectly.

Rockhammer then pulled out the next ring and gave it to harry and said "black family ring, the motto is _toujours pur_ or always pure" the ring was a silver band with the black family crest with two snakes entwined to a sword on a red background. Harry wore this on his middle finger in his left hand the ring fit perfectly too.

Rockhammer pulled out the next one "Peverell ring motto is _Fortuna favel audax _or fortune favours the bold" it was a gold band with the crest being a white wolf on a green background, this harry wore on his right pinky finger where it shrunk to fit perfectly

"The last one is Gol; the motto is _diaboli erit _or devils will" the ring being a silver band with the family crest being a dragon on a gold background. This went to Harry's left pinky finger, and shrunk to fit perfectly.

The goblin then said "now about the marriage contract…" "Wait what?" harry interrupted "marriage contract set up by the black family for their heir, that was never fulfilled" Rockhammer explained then continued "you have a contract with the Greengrass family's heiress Daphne Greengrass from your black ancestry."

Harry stared at the goblin for a whole minute before saying "I can't marry daphne greengrass" to which Rockhammer grinned and said "of course you can, the legal age of marrieage is fifteen in the wizarding world" "no" harry replied "I can't marry her because it's unfair to her and to me as well"

Rockhammer sighed and replied "I don't know about that, but maybe you should discuss this with any other wizard, we goblins don't understand wizarding world that well, also your rings act as portkey's to the various properties. Also you are legally emancipated and the trace should be removed from you" harry nodded and thought _"well there goes one wish down the drain" _and said "have a good day" and left the office.

Harry stepped out of the Gringotts bank to see one of his best friends Ron Weasley, who also noticed harry at the same time and rushed forward to greet him "harry! What are you doing here?" harry gave Ron a cold look and said "I'm here to claim my inheritance" then showed him the rings. Ron looked incredulous for a moment before replying "great"

**XXXXXXX**

Harry and Ron were sitting at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour where Ron was explaining to harry about the various activities undertaken by the order of the phoenix; a vigilante group created by Dumbledore to fight against the death eaters

"the order mainly tries to recruit new members, keep tabs on known death eaters and at least one member of the order is charged with watching you, which brings me to ask how did you escape their notice?" harry grinned and replied "I hid behind my fat uncle when we got into the car" "and your uncle drove you here" Ron asked disbelief evident in his voice to which harry fidgeted a bit and said "I cast a compulsion charm on him" Ron's eyes widened and he said "explain" harry sighed and began

"I found this orb in my room with some sort of white mist in it, and I just felt this need to smash it. When I smashed it a shroud came out and said you have three wishes…" "Orb of wishes" Ron interrupted "what?" harry asked to which Ron replied "the orb that you broke, it's called the orb of wishes, and is said to appear to those who deserve it to grant wishes" harry now understood where the orb came from and continued "so I asked for magical eyesight, the removal of the trace and peak physical condition" harry had left out the part with the marriage contracts.

It was then that Ron noticed that harry was better built than when he had last seen him, he was not buff, but more muscle. His build still looked sinewy, just more strength, but greater speed. Harry then asked Ron "how did you get out of the headquarters anyways?" Ron grinned and said "mum needed a few things and I volunteered to get them" indicating the bags with him Ron asked "so now what?" harry grinned back and asked "have you ever played football?"

**XXXXXXX**

As it turned out Ron had never played football, but was a natural goalkeeper or at least that's what one of the guys they had played with at Hyde Park had said.

Ron had told harry that the headquarters was provided by Sirius and was in London, so harry, having a fair idea of where the order's headquarters were told Ron to go ahead and that harry would be there soon.

Harry gave Ron a half hour head start then harry called out "no. 12 grimmauld place" and felt the familiar tug at his navel. Harry landed in a dark, dimly lit hall that looked like the inside of a derelict building, oh and he was surrounded by the order

"Harry what are you doing here?" Dumbledore asked, he was standing in front of harry flanked by Molly Weasley and Minerva McGonagall. Behind them stood other people who harry assumed were members of the order harry recognised Lupin, Sirius, Hermione, Ginny, the twins, bill Weasley, mad-eye moody, Arthur Weasley and other people he didn't recognise harry then looked back at Dumbledore and said "I was heading to one of my houses" then he turned to Sirius and before anyone could say anything he said "I've been made the head of the house of black, since you're a fugitive and I'm your heir"

"But that's impossible" Hermione butted in her know-it-all tone "an heir must be of a blood relation" "harry" Sirius interrupted her "is a cousin of mine as his paternal grandmother was Dorea black" Dumbledore blinked and asked "how did that happen?" Sirius just shrugged

Dumbledore turned his attention back to harry and asked "how did you get out of privet drive?" harry just sighed and recounted the entire tale like he had with Ron and acted like he was hearing about the orb for the first time when Hermione told him about it. Again he left out the part about the marriage contracts.

"That's great harry" Ron said and acted all exited once harry had finished his story and came forward to clap him on the shoulder. Harry barely felt Ron slip a piece of parchment in his pocket.

"Well harry…" Dumbledore began to which harry interrupted "I'm not going back to the Dursley's. They are not my family and privet drive is not my home, I'm staying at potter castle" Dumbledore sighed, unknown to harry the wards around privet drive had fallen

"Can I come?" Ron asked throwing harry off momentarily as this was not part of the plan but harry still nodded "sure" Ron beamed but before Mrs. Weasley could object Dumbledore said "can I talk to you and Remus alone for a moment?" harry frowned but nodded.

The three made their way into the dining room and Dumbledore cast a couple of charms at the door then turned to harry and said "harry I want you to take Remus with you to potter castle, as I'm worried about leaving you and Mr. Weasley alone" harry opened his mouth to protest but Dumbledore said "please listen, while I'm sure you and Mr. Weasley can take care of yourselves, when, two boys are left alone, and girls get involved….you might do something you regret"

Harry turned beet red when he understood Dumbledore's concern and said "fine but Sirius comes with me as well" Dumbledore simply nodded and the three went back outside where molly Weasley was shouting at Ron "…AND YOU WILL NOT JUST GO AWAY WITH HARRY ON YOUR…" "Molly" Dumbledore did not shout but his voice filled the hall "I guarantee you your son's safety"

Instantly Mrs. Weasley nodded and sent Ron upstairs to pack, harry turned to Sirius and said "you're coming with us" Sirius looked taken aback for a couple of seconds but simply nodded grinning widely harry then turned to Hermione and asked "you wanna come?" Hermione simply glared at him and said "you are putting your life in danger by leaving privet drive" harry just shrugged.

Ron returned quickly and nodded at harry, behind him Mrs. Weasley said "don't forget to be at Prewett manner by 11:00 o'clock on Friday morning" Ron nodded at her and gave harry a 'I'll tell you later' look. When his best friend and two uncles touched his ring harry called out "potter castle" and the four were whisked away.

The quartet landed in a hall. The walls were made of marble, and the floor was of polished wood "wow" Ron exclaimed looking around "wow" harry agreed while Sirius and Remus looked nostalgic at the hall "let me show you around" Sirius offered as harry stared along in wonderment.

The castle consisted of four floors above ground, two floors below and four towers all white marble and polished wood floor. The castle had a giant library, a big dining room, a well furnished kitchen, and many other rooms, harry could not care to list. The castle also had many hidden paths and rooms. The grounds had a big swimming pool, a quidditch pitch and led to the woods of the surrounding area on one side and green plains on the other.

Currently the four were headed to the master bedroom "and this" Sirius proclaimed in a mock pompous manner "is the master bedroom" he threw open the double doors to show a big bedroom with a bed big enough for ten people and room to stretch, a desk made of oak and a balcony right above the swimming pool.

"So" Sirius began once the four had settled in the room "why did you need to know about wizarding politics?" because indeed harry had sent Ron half an hour earlier to ask Sirius about books for wizarding politics, the list that Ron had slipped in Harry's pocket. The other two too looked interested at this and harry sighed

"Firstly promise me that what I'm about to tell you never leaves the four of us" the three promised looking even more intrigued and harry told them "I have a marriage contracts from the black families side of the inheritance" Sirius looked surprised then amused and Remus looked sympathetic but Ron looked interested and worried "with whom?" Ron asked to which harry replied

"Daphne Greengrass, heiress to the greengrass family" Ron looked shocked now then frowned and asked "Greengrass, the death eater?" "We don't know that for sure" Sirius said "their family practices the dark arts but has always remained neutral" harry nodded and said "she is known as the ice queen of Hogwarts due to her aloof nature and ruthlessness towards those who annoy her, she is said to only associate with Tracey Davies, another Slytherin from her year and Hermione says she gets good grades"

Ron still looked unconvinced and Remus decided to change the subject "as far as I know you cannot break out of a marriage contract unless you break one of the terms or conditions, so ask Gringotts for the contracts to check for those terms and conditions."

"Ron, why do you need to go to prewett manor on Friday?" Ron looked sad and said "my grandfather called all of us, mum thinks he's dying" harry felt bad for Ron and said "I'm sorry" Ron blinked and said "he's not dead yet y'know"

Harry grinned then nodded and the four went quiet each immersed in their own thoughts when harry finally said "we need to train" the other three looked at him with questioning gazes and harry expanded on his thought process "with the war coming up we need to train to be able to survive, and not just magical training, some sort of martial art, magical first aid, stuff like that" Sirius looked thoughtful and said "yes that's a good idea, you can also add swordsmanship to the list" harry looked confused but agreed

Harry then asked "can the two of you train us" the two marauders looked thoughtful but Ron interrupted "I know a wizard who is an expert in mixed martial arts" Remus nodded and said "I can think of a swordsman who would not ask questions, about training you" Sirius added "I can think of a healer whom you can employ, but I'm still wanted so you will have to contact him" harry grinned and said "lets contact them"

**XXXXXXX**

Harry and Ron were in prewett manor as were the rest of the Weasley family along with mad-eye moody and another girl with bubblegum pink hair. After this meeting, harry and Ron were about to go to the leaky cauldron to meet the new teachers who had agreed for the pub to be their rendezvous. Harry was about to ask the girl her name when Mrs. Weasley said "c'mon everyone lets go inside" indicating the master bedroom, where Ron's grandfather was probably dying.

The Weasley family was ushered inside and harry was outside with mad-eye moody and the other girl "wotcher harry" the girl said "I'm Tonks" harry shook her hand and noticed her hair change from pink to purple "your hair' harry said panicked, thinking it was some curse tonks just grinned and said "like it?" harry looked confused "I'm a metamorphous" harry still looked confused "I can change my appearance at will" "oh, that's cool" harry said tonks nodded and said "made auror training easy" harry looked awed "you're an auror" tonks grinned and nodded

**Meanwhile**

The Weasley family was in the master bedroom along with the prewett family head Luxor prewett, father of molly Weasley, grandfather of Weasley kids and father-in-law of Arthur Weasley. Beside him was the prewett family accounts manager ironfist "my time is near" began Luxor prewett, he was tall and thin with close cropped grey hair and dark eyes "I have called you hear to announce my heir" molly seemed horrified "father please you still have…" "Quiet molly" lord prewett stopped her "now I have decided that my heir will be Ronald Weasley"

Everyone turned to look at Ron who looked shocked and simply asked "why?" Luxor sighed and said "you are destined for great things, I know it, and I want to retire." Ron still looked shocked but said "ok" "great" replied Luxor after a moment "now ironfist will give you a list of stuff you get and now I give you my ring" Luxor took the ring for the prewett head out of his middle finger and gave it to Ron who was about to put it on his middle finger when molly cried "wait"

Everyone turned to look at her and molly said "father please reconsider, Ron is too young, and inexperienced" Luxor shook his head and said "experience can be gained by men, raw talent is gifted by fate" he nodded at Ron who put on the ring which shrank to fit his middle finger. It was a silver band with a black horse rearing on a black background.

Ironfist gave Ron a sheet which Ron folded and pocketed without even looking. Luxor then said "you all can go now"

**Outside**

Harry saw the Weasley family come out and saw Ron approach harry and say "let's go meet our teachers" harry looked confused but nodded but before they could step in the floo Fred and George blocked their way "congrats Ron" Fred said and George added "yeah, we're really happy for you" beside them bill came and said "mom is the only one who thinks you're too young" behind him Charlie nodded "what…" harry began but Ron interrupted "later"

With that the duo walked past the twins and jumped into the floo calling "leaky cauldron." After spinning down the floo the two reach the leaky cauldron and harry asks tom "we're here to meet three people in the room reserved under the name Ron Weasley" tom nodded and led them to a private room and showed them in, closing the door behind him.

Harry noticed the three men in front of them and said "hi, I'm harry" "Ron" Ron greeted to the three. "Sam Tyler, MMA expert" greeted a man who was seven feet four inch tall, and built like a wrestler, he was bald and looked like he could snap a tree in half with his bare hands, "mark Elliot, healer" greeted a slight looking man with brown hair and green eyes "Donald Vista, swordsman" the man had piercing blue eyes and spiky brown hair, he seemed well built, not like Sam Tyler but strong and fit.

"Hey" harry began "we need you three to train us in your respective abilities, I can take you to my home where we can work out what you can teach us" Sam then said "excuse me but you will need equipment like punching bags, weights, gloves, mats and stuff to train properly" vista nodded and said "I can only teach you in an open environment, but I'm only available from next month"

Ron then turned to harry and said "we can concentrate on MMA and healing for the first month then take on swordsmanship" harry thought this was a valid point and suggested this to the three teachers who agreed. After giving them the floo address, and Sam agreeing to come in half an hour with the necessary equipment harry and Ron went back to potter castle where Sirius and Remus were waiting for them

"Okay Ron" harry said once they were in the castle "what happened in prewett manor?" Ron smiled and said "I'm the new lord prewett" he showed harry the ring and harry grinned and said "great" "great? That's bloody fantastic" Sirius proclaimed while Remus clapped Ron on the back and said "congrats Ron" Ron nodded and said "gramps made me the heir as he thought I was destined for great things, and he wanted to retire."

Ron then pulled a sheet out of his pocket and opened it as all four looked at it to see what was written

_Ronald bilious Weasley_

_15 years old_

_Titles_

_Marquess Prewett_

_Money_

_Prewett vault-3,000,702 galleons, 5 sickles, 3 knuts_

_Properties_

_Prewett Castle-Radnorshire_

_Prewett manor- Dublin_

_Prewett Chalet-Switzerland_

_Please note that as lord prewett you are legally emancipated_

Harry looked at Ron who looked shocked but still managed to said "bloody hell" harry smirked and said "what about marriage contracts?" Sirius shook his head and said "if there had been any, it would have been mentioned here" harry comically drooped his head and started muttering "why is it always me who suffers?"

Ron patted harry on the shoulders sympathetically and said "at least you are guaranteed to marry. I'll be lucky to find a girlfriend" the two marauders were quietly sniggering then Remus remembered something "what happened with the teachers?" harry brightened and explained the situation to Sirius and Remus who nodded then Sirius added "me and moony will also be teaching you defensive magic and politics" harry brightened at the prospect and they began to discuss what they were going to learn.

Half an hour later Sam arrived with a large backpack. Harry showed him to the hall they would be practicing in "this room has a time distortion spell" Remus explained with Sirius in dog form beside him "a month outside is like a year here" Sam nodded and started setting up mats on the ground with punching bags hanging from the ceiling on sliders a rope tied to the ceiling and other equipment. He then turned to harry and Ron and said "let's go"

**1****st**** September**

Harry and Ron were completing some last minute packing. The last two months had been hectic for the duo but had been worth it.

The two were competent fighters in MMA and had learnt to channel their magic through their body to harden their skin as well as increase their strength, though Ron was the stronger one, harry was much faster and flexible than the redhead.

They had also learnt how to heal cuts, broken bones and sprains; they learnt how to scan the body for problems, and also of the various pressure points in the human body and how to use them to their advantage. They also learnt spells that can help in stabilising internal injuries until proper medical assistance is obtained.

Donald had taught them how to transform their wands into swords that would suit them the best and how to generate energy waves from their swords and how to manipulate these waves. He also thought them a few of his moves and encouraged them to make their own moves.

The defensive magic taught by Remus and Sirius was of tremendous help as well, it included curses, hexes, charms, transfiguration, such as conjuring objects out of thin air as well as potions such as brewing poisons and antidotes.

They had also received their book lists with Ron receiving the prefect badge shocking all four of them. They had decided to order for the books by owl post and Ron had also ordered a broom, a cleansweep eleven for himself, as he wanted to try and play for keeper. It seemed that playing keeper at Hyde Park had boosted his confidence enough to try for quidditch keeper.

Harry had also received the contract between him and daphne greengrass from Gringotts in sealed envelopes but had not opened them, so that when he shows them to his betroth he could show, they had not been tampered with.

Harry had also taught Ron how to play poker and they would play it with Remus and their teachers almost daily. Though Sirius could not participate as he was still large as a mass murderer and they could not exactly explain his innocence to the three teachers.

Presently they had arrived at platform 9¾ and were looking around when they heard Mrs. Weasley call out "Harry, Ron" they looked in her direction to see said women followed by Ginny, Hermione, the twins, tonks and moody.

"hey guys" harry greeted them "hey" Hermione greeted back sullenly, with a large P pinned on her chest, when harry looked at her questioningly she replied "should have taken up that option of yours to go with you" the other Weasley kids nodded as well harry just grinned when they heard Remus call out "padfoot come here"

They turned to see Sirius in his animagus form being petted by many girls and older women, and he seemed to be salivating after them. Harry shook his head at his godfather's antics but was still smiling

"Anyways" Hermione said shaking her head "congrats Ron" she said and Ron grinned and said "I'm surprised you don't look shocked" Hermione looked confused but said "I'll admit I was surprised that you became the prewett head but…" "Hermione" harry interrupted while Ron frowned "I believe Ron thought you were congratulating him on becoming a prefect"

It was then that everyone noticed the badge on Ron's chest. Hermione looked like she had been slapped, the twins looked like their eyeballs would pop out, and Mrs. Weasley looked ready to start shedding tears and Ginny simply looked flabbergasted.

"There's the reaction I was hoping for" Ron whispered to harry while the others collected themselves somewhat and congratulated Ron. Soon it was time to board the train. Ron had to go to the prefect meeting with Hermione leaving harry with Ginny looking for an empty compartment.

They eventually found a compartment with a girl who had waist length platinum blond hair, striking grey eyes and had her wand tucked behind her ear. "Harry" Ginny called "this is Luna Lovegood a Ravenclaw in my year, she is a great person"

harry gave Luna another look, she did not have any feature that would mark her as sexy but harry thought that she was pretty in the petite sort of way. Luna blinked and said "Harry Potter?" harry nodded and extended his hand saying "nice to meet you" luna smiled and shook his hand replying "you too"

They talked about their summers, vacations and other, lighter conversations, and soon Neville came in. they continued to discuss their summers when Ron and Hermione entered and joined the conversation as well, while bemoaning about malfoy becoming a prefect.

They continued to talk about when Daphne Greengrass came by and said "potter do you have a moment?" it was clearly not a question "what do you want with harry greengrass?" Ginny asked scathingly and harry thought quickly and said the first thing that came into his mind "her family has an alliance with the black family that I represent"

Harry took a moment to look at his betrothed Daphne was 5'5 with blonde hair that reached her chest, pale Caucasian skin; she had chocolate brown eyes and an hour glass figure, she seemed quite beautiful to harry

Harry got up and said "maybe we should take another compartment" and left before anyone else could say anything. They went to a compartment occupied by two second years and Daphne gave them a cold look and said "out" the two kids scampered away as the two made themselves comfortable... well as comfortable as one can be with a stranger they're betrothed to, harry on one side and his betrothed on the other.

Harry handed her their contract from Gringotts and said "as you can see these contracts have not been opened yet, and thus have not been tampered with" she simply nodded at harry and opened her envelope and pulled out a…bar tab? Harry stared as Daphne read the bar tab with wide eyes and turned pale. Daphne then handed the tab to harry who noted that the contract said that Daphne would be married to harry and that the bride price was a bag of peanuts but nothing else.

Harry did not know what to say about this contract but he looked at the bar tab and saw that peanuts was included. Harry turned to the girl in front of him and said "we should get to know each other"

Just then the announcement came for reaching Hogwarts in half an hour, so daphne said "maybe we could talk later", harry nodded and said "we can talk on a one on one basis" Daphne seemed to turn paler so harry added "or maybe we could each bring one friend each, y'know make things less awkward"

Daphne seemed to have regained a little colour, so they agreed to it and decided on the date, time and place of the meetings.

Harry then went out to change into his robes and joined Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny near the carriages, where harry saw the thresals. He had read about them and Remus had told him that Hogwarts carriages were pulled by thresals, but looking at them was still a shock.

Ron sent Hermione and Ginny with Neville much to the protest of the girls, who wanted to know about the alliance, and be with harry, but had still managed to send them off. After he and harry had boarded a carriage did Ron ask "so what happened?" harry gave a small smile and replied "we talked" Ron gave him a withering look and asked "and?" harry looked thoughtful for a moment and asked "what are you doing tommorow night?"

**As you can see I have decided to change this story from a harem to a one-on-one relationship type of story, because I thought that harem stories were overrated and felt like writing a simpler relationship type of story.**

**Please read & review**


	2. Chapter 2

Harry yawned as he woke up from his sleep, his dorm mates were still sleeping, harry shook Ron, slightly and whispered "wake up, mate" Ron slowly got up and asked through squinted eyes "what time is it?" harry just shook his head and said "it's quite early, but do you want to hear what happened last night with the Greengrass?"

Ron immediately snapped his eyes open and said "yes" harry had not been able to tell him what had happened last night, as the girls would not leave them alone, and in the boys dorm, harry had an argument with Seamus, and Ron decided it was best not to approach the subject.

Fifteen minutes later the boys were on their way to the great hall, as harry told Ron of what had happened, after his story, Ron explained Daphne's reaction to harry "harry, in magical society, males have natural dominance over females, most contracts have the girl's family stating her to be treated equally and have a say in her life and stuff, but with the Greengrass contract the equality clause was not there, so she basically has no say in her own life, or that of any heirs you might produce"

Harry blushed at the heir part and was horrified that any women had to live such a life and said "I would never make her do anything she didn't want to do" Ron quickly nodded and replied "I know, but she doesn't know you at all, and even if she does know a little about you, such a prospect would still be terrifying for her"

Harry nodded at the explanation and said "you will come with me to meet them right?" Ron nodded "of course, but are you sure you don't want to tell mione about this?" Ron asked back, harry frowned and said "I would like to tell her, but you know how she is when it comes to pureblood traditions?" Ron nodded as Hermione was well known for her loathing against pureblood traditions and creating organizations to try and change their ways, S.P.E.W. being the best example.

Soon they were joined by Hermione, who was grumpy about them not waiting for her. The day was pretty normal, with all the teachers starting the class by telling them the importance of O.W.L.'s and proceeding with the studies, since harry and Ron had studied quite a bit in the summer, the lessons at its current time was quite easy for them, much to the general shock of all the teachers and students, with shock and suspicion from Hermione.

Although they hadn't had DADA class yet, they had heard that it was utterly rubbish, and that the teacher, professor Umbridge was trying to make sure that they do not learn any defence.

**XXXXXXX**

Daphne Greengrass was having a bad day. Just yesterday she found out that her marriage contract, wrote her of as a slave to none other than Harry 'bloody' Potter, the Gryffindor golden boy. She told this to her best friend Tracey Davis who had been, at first horrified, then thoughtful.

Tracey was just an inch taller than Daphne with jet black hair that reached her waist and tan skin with blue eyes, she was quite beautiful too with D-cup breasts, which Daphne was not envious of as her own were C-cups and did not garner more attention than she needed, but Tracey was a half blood and thus few people bothered her, also she would hex any boy who would try to harass her, like Daphne and was considered off limits by everyone.

"Well, he is Gryffindors golden boy" Tracey had told Daphne, in the morning "everyone says he's really noble, and all plus he said you could bring one friend to the meeting right?" Daphne nodded she had explained this to Tracey last night "so he might want to assure you that he won't try to take advantage of you" Daphne knew Tracey had a point, but all of it was on mere assumption

"Besides" Tracey continued "if he and his friend do try to gang up on us, we can hex them" "you can" Daphne reminded her "I can't, as it would breach the contract" Tracey simply nodded. The rest of the day was routine, with regular classes and defence class being a joke, where they were told to read the textbook and nothing else.

It was almost curfew and Daphne and Tracey were just finishing their homework "ready" Tracey asked Daphne who simply replied "absolutely not" Tracey gave her a sympathetic smile as they exited their common room.

**XXXXXXX**

Harry and Ron had completed about half of their homework, shocking Hermione as they usually put it off for later, "we just want to be prepared for our O.W.L's" harry had said, and that was true, partially, they also wanted to get it out of the way so they could go to meet Greengrass and her friend.

"We're going to the pitch to create hypothetical situations for a couple of new quidditch tactics" Ron had lied "what?" Hermione demanded "why would you discuss quidditch tactics, at the time of the night near the pitch when you could complete your homework and also…" "Hermione" harry interrupted her tirade "we would explain it but we have to go"

With that harry and Ron escaped through the portrait before Hermione could retaliate, once they were out of the common room harry turned to Ron and asked wryly "quidditch tactics?" Ron turned the colour of his hair and said "I just said the first thing that came in my mind" harry looked at Ron with a serious expression and said "never ever do that again"

Ron just rolled his eyes and said "let's hurry up and go meet your betrothed" harry grimaced as Ron laughed and they walked to meet Harry's fiancée. They entered an unused classroom on the seventh floor to see two girls standing there.

"You're late" Daphne remarked coldly as Ron frowned harry simply replied "sorry" the four stood near the teachers table looking at one another, not sure what to do or say "well this is awkward" Tracey muttered "amen to that" Ron intoned as Tracey giggled "how about we introduce ourselves" harry said as the three other looked at him in confusion, "I'll go first" he added upon seeing their faces

"I'm harry James potter black Peverell Gol, born on 31st of July. My hobbies are quidditch, and practicing my swordsmanship and martial arts. I like DADA and I hate potions, my dream is to someday lead a normal life" the three continued to stare at harry after which Daphne decided to take the initiative

"I'm Daphne Evelyn Greengrass, born on 15th August. My hobbies are reading, my favourite class is charms and I hate transfiguration, my ambition is to become a charms mistress" harry smiled at her ambition and looked at Ron who sighed and began

"I'm Ronald bilious Weasley prewett, born on the 1st of March. My hobbies are, playing quidditch, chess and having death defying adventures with my friends, I don't like any class in particular but I do loathe potions, my ambition is to become a professional quidditch player" the three who had introduced themselves turned to the last one who grinned and said

"My name is Tracey Joanne Davis, born on 4th of June. My hobbies are reading and teasing my best friend Daphne; I like care of magical creatures but don't like arthimacy. I aim is to become head of department of magical creatures" the four were quiet again, each thinking what to say to the others

"So" harry decided to break the ice "charms mistress huh?" Daphne nodded slowly and replied "I've wanted to be one since first year" harry smiled and replied "that's great, I have no idea what I want to do after Hogwarts" Daphne just shook her head then turned to Ron and asked

"So you play chess?" Ron nodded and asked evenly "why do you ask?" Daphne narrowed her eyes and said "you just don't strike me as much of a player" Ron grinned and said "I'll bet seven sickles that I can beat you"

"I'll take that challenge" Tracey replied and Ron grinned "anyways" harry intervened then turned to Daphne and said "so you enjoy reading?" Daphne nodded and said "I enjoy reading almost any book, especially novels, my favourites are pride and prejudice and a tale of two cities" harry smiled at this and said "my personal favourites are, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Count of Monte Crisco. Don't you have any wizard novels that you like?" harry asked her

Daphne simply replied "there are no novels written by wizarding folk. Most pureblood wizards are simply interested in books about magic and gossip magazines" harry raised an eyebrow and said "well their loss. Although I'm surprised a pureblood like you reads muggle novels"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Daphne demanded angrily "that purebloods are dunderheads?" she seemed to be itching for her wand "no no not at all" harry answered quickly "I'm just surprised that you were exposed to muggle books, I mean even Ron, whose dad is interested in muggle technology, doesn't know anything about muggles"

This seemed to calm down Daphne a bit who said "well it was Tracey, who is a half blood by the way, who introduced me to a muggle library near my home, and got me addicted to these books" harry glanced at Tracey who was in an intense chess match with Ron… _"Wait a minute" _"where did that chess set come from?" harry demanded

"It was with me" Ron replied "and you just had it with you?" harry asked to which Ron turned to harry and said "I always carry a shrunk chess set with me. Don't you know that?" harry just shook his head as Ron check mated Tracey.

"hn he's not completely clueless when it comes to chess" Daphne observed as Tracey sportingly handed Ron his winnings, but still looked poignant about losing to Ron of all people, Ron turned to Daphne and said " I'm not a complete idiot… just a partial one" Tracey snorted in a very unladylike manner and even Daphne gave a small smile.

Harry smiled getting Ron away from his family had done him some good in his attitude and confidence, now even Ron made some light hearted jokes, and didn't get easily angered by others who made fun of him, harry only wished Hermione would come, but she was so set in her ways that it was hard to convince her to think otherwise.

"So Potter…" Tracey began and harry interrupted "just call me harry" Tracey nodded and continued "harry, don't you have any hobbies other than quidditch?" harry thought about it for a moment before replying "I used to enjoy getting stuck in life-or-death situations, but that got boring after a while" Tracey sniggered as Ron grinned and Daphne gave a small smile

"So what tell us about Granger?" Daphne asked Ron raised an eyebrow and asked back "why do you wanna know?" "We're not pure blood supremacists" Daphne defended herself and her best friend "Tracey's mom is a muggle born but is really nice and smart and really fun. I just want to know about potter's other best friend as we're going to get married someday"

Harry could see the logic in her reasoning and decided to answer her "Hermione is an extremely intelligent person; she's one of the top in our year, she's also logical and is very good at research, and makes sure me and Ron study, the amount that we do, she's also the only one who actually takes noted in history of magic, not even the ravenclaw's do that"

After harry finished Daphne nodded and harry asked back "what about any other friends of yours?" Daphne sighed and said "other than Tracey, Lily Moon is my only friend in this school other than my little sister Astoria, otherwise everyone knows me as the ice queen" harry nodded and didn't ask to further on the subject as he could see that Daphne didn't want to talk about it.

"Why do they call you that anyway?" Ron asked Daphne who seemed to think for a moment before replying "when I was in second year, I hexed a guy making rude passes at me and got nicknamed the 'ice queen'" harry raised an eyebrow and asked "that's it?" Daphne nodded and harry let out a breath

"We were expecting something, like 'you can freeze people just by glaring at them' or something"

Ron muttered as Daphne raised an eyebrow Ron explained "most of the rumours seem to suggest that" Tracey added her own two Knuts "most rumours are over exaggerated anyways, you should not believe everything you hear"

They kept talking for some more time, about various subjects before they decided it was quite late and left for the night, after deciding what time to meet the next night.

"So what do you think of them?" harry asked Ron, the redhead thought for a moment and replied "they're not like how I expected them to be, they're not arrogant, pompous or pureblood supremacists, Greengrass still seemed a bit cold, but I guess she was being on her guard due to the contract." Harry nodded at that, he had observed that too "still, this could all be an act by them" harry rolled his eyes at that statement.

"Why don't you trust them mate?" harry asked his best friend who shrugged and said "well Slytherin is a death eater house, I'm ready to give them a chance, but I'm not about to trust them easily" harry just shook his head, Ron's logic seemed to make sense, especially since the contract had been formed with the black family that were notoriously dark and believed in pureblood supremacy, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Daphne was trustworthy.

"What is your opinion of them?" Ron asked and harry replied "they seem genuine, but guarded, but I'm already trusting them, but your logic makes sense too" "so what are you saying?" Ron asked again

"Only time will tell" remarked harry

**XXXXXXX**

Daphne and Tracey were hurrying towards their common room "well that wasn't so bad" Tracey commented making Daphne snort "it was a lot better than I expected it to be" Tracey nodded and said "he seemed nice, y'know. I think he'll treat you like an equal no matter what pureblood society is like"

Daphne nodded and said "but I'm still uneasy about him having so much power over me" Tracey sighed, she understood Daphne's plight, and new that beneath the ice mask was a very spirited woman, but she felt that harry would treat Daphne with respect and honour her wishes.

"Anyways, you seemed to hit it off well with Weasley" Daphne commented making Tracey frown "who would've thought that he was such a good chess player, and I lost seven sickles to _him _of all people" Daphne understood her friends feelings as Ron Weasley was considered a dunderhead, but he was able to defeat Tracey with no problem, which must seem like an insult to her own intelligence to Tracey.

"maybe he's smarter than he seems to be" muttered Tracey making Daphne scoff "of course he's smarter than he seems… no one is that stupid" Tracey giggled and said "but really I think you have it nice with potter" Daphne sighed, part of her agreed with her friend but for some reason she was still uneasy.

"Besides" Tracey continued "I think he's gonna be good in bed" Daphne groaned as her friend revealed her frank, blue side again "what?" Tracey demanded "I'm telling you he looks _delicious_" Daphne just shook her head as her best friend kept pestering her.

**XXXXXXX**

Harry, Hermione and Ron were heading to the defence classroom for DADA with Hufflepuff "I've heard people say that it's a load of crap" Ron said as Hermione chastised him for his language, harry just shook his head at the antics of the two, when he noticed Susan bones head to the classroom with her best friend Hannah abbot.

The three then entered the room and harry muttered "holy shit" this time Hermione did not chastised him for his language as she too was thinking along the same lines. The entire room was covered in pink wallpapers, and curtains along with pictures of hundreds of kittens, "it looks like someone ate too much candyfloss and vomited on the walls" Ron commented and those who heard him had to agree.

"I know defence about dark arts is about dealing with scary stuff, but this is truly horrifying" Neville commented making everyone snigger. Soon everyone settled down.

"Good morning class" professor Umbridge said and stared as no one responded "that just won't do" she simpered making harry nauseous "when I greet you with 'good morning class' you reply 'good morning professor Umbridge' understood? Well then"

"Good morning professor Umbridge" they chanted feeling foolish "what are we, five year olds" Ron muttered under his breath, and harry had to agree. "Now" professor Umbridge said "pull out your textbooks and start reading"

Harry read the text for two minutes, when he noticed Hermione had her hand in the air staring intently at professor Umbridge, who was pointedly ignoring her, but soon everybody in class was looking at Hermione and professor Umbridge finally turned to Hermione and asked in her sickly sweet voice "do you have a question in the lesson already?"

"Why doesn't your book say anything on using defensive spells?" everyone turned to look at Umbridge who gave a laugh and said "_use _defensive spells? Why would you need to use defensive spells?"

"So that we can perform them in case we get attacked" harry said as Umbridge turned to him and said "students will raise their hands in my class" at once almost the entire class raised their hand and Umbridge looked at them and picked one which she thought would offer a simple question

"Yes ms…." "Hannah Abbot" Hannah said "don't we have a practical part in our owl exams? How are we supposed to pass them if we do not know how to perform these spells?" Umbridge looked like she'd swallowed a lemon and said "with sufficient theory, you should be able to perform the spells without any problem in a risk free, secure environment"

"If we are attacked" harry snarled "it won't be in a safe risk free environment" "students will raise their hand in my class Mr. Potter"

Everyone stared at her for a moment before raising their hands; Umbridge looked at dean and said "yes..." "Dean Thomas" dean said "like harry said if we are attacked it won't be in a risk free environment, so how are we supposed to defend ourselves without any practice?"

"And who do you expect to be attacked by?" Umbridge simpered at them "Voldemort" harry replied scathingly as most of the class shuddered "he is dead" Umbridge said as harry snarled and said "no he's not, I saw him with my own eyes, as well as fought him"

"Detention" trilled Umbridge then said "now please continue with the reading…" Ron raised his hand and asked "what about Sirius black?" Umbridge's paled and said "the ministry is doing all it can to capture Sirius black"

"Apparently that is not enough" harry said in a loud whisper, this seemed to snap Umbridge who said "I assure you that the ministry will catch him very soon" _"not likely" _harry thought and asked "and what about Voldemort?" again everyone shuddered as Umbridge said sharply "Mr. Potter, your detention has been increased, you will report to me every evening this week"

**XXXXXXX**

By dinner everyone seemed to know what had happened in the defence class between harry and Umbridge

"Says he saw you-know-who…"

"Claims to have fought him…"

Harry ignore the whispers as he quickly ate his dinner with Ron and Hermione and then made his way outside the great hall "what's wrong with people?" harry demanded once they exited the great hall

"They all believed Dumbledore about Voldemort (Hermione and Ron shuddered) returning, but don't believe it now?" harry demanded angrily. Hermione turned to him and said "I don't think they believed him exactly, and these last few months of your and Dumbledore's names being slandered didn't help either"

They walked up to their common room and started on their homework which had been assigned to them but could not get much of it done. At five to eight, harry bade his friends goodbye and went to Umbridge's office.

He reached there and knocked on the door and heard her say "come in" harry entered the room to see Umbridge behind her desk, she motioned to the chair in front of her and harry sat down, she then gave him a black feather quill with an unusually sharp tip and said "you will be writing lines for me. Specifically _'I will not tell lies'_"

Harry blinked, he had expected something far worse, but said "you haven't given me any ink" Umbridge smiled at him and harry felt like throwing up "you won't be needing any" harry was getting a bad feeling about this but he decided to write.

at that moment harry wrote his first line and it appeared on the paper in red ink and also appeared on the back of his hand harry let out a short gasp as the lines faded and left his skin slightly redder than before.

"Is there a problem?" Umbridge asked not even trying to hide her smile. Harry shook his head and wrote another line as it appeared on the back of his hand again. Harry then remembered his training over the summer and hardened his hands as Sam had taught him, and tried to write another line… but the metal tip broke as harry tried to write.

Harry hid his grin and looked up to Umbridge "the tip of the quill broke" he said as Umbridge stared at him "what?" she asked as if she couldn't understand what he said harry repeated his statement and Umbridge's eyes narrowed.

"What did you do?" she demanded in her high pitched falsetto voice "nothing" harry replied with a straight face "you're saying that the tip of the quill broke all by itself?" She demanded clearly not believing his story.

Harry just nodded as Umbridge frowned and said "very well, you may go today, but I assure you that you'll have to make up for it tomorrow."

Harry smiled as he left Umbridge's office, and made his way to Gryffindor tower, on the way he met Ron, with his broom in his hand. "So how was practice?" he asked with a grin, Ron had told him how he wanted to try out for the quidditch team.

"T'was ok" Ron mumbled with a red face, he was still easily embarrassed about some things. Harry laughed at his red face "did your detention end so quickly?" Ron asked harry who remembered the quill and told Ron about it.

"That foul hag" Ron snarled when harry told him of what happened "its ok" harry said "I broke her quill" he said "but harry" Ron interrupted "a blood quill is illegal, it can get her in prison" "knowing fudge" harry replied "he'll probably try to deny the charges and accuse me of insanity" Ron stayed quiet as he knew this was true, and stayed quiet as they headed to the common room to keep his broom.

When they reached the common room they saw Hermione…knitting, "what are you doing?" Ron asked her to which Hermione replied "I'm knitting, I've been knitting hats for house elves" Hermione replied placing what looked nothing like hats but bits of wool in various places and covering them with rubbish.

"You're trying to trick them into being free, even if they don't want to?" Ron asked amused, Hermione turned pink and said "of course they want to" then stormed off to her dormitory.

Harry simply shook his head as he and Ron tried to do a little more of their homework before they headed to the empty classroom to meet his betrothed and her friend. They arrived a few minutes early and waited for the girls.

"Fifteen and married" harry muttered to himself but Ron heard him "you're not married yet" "as good as married" harry replied and Ron shook his head and said "they'll" be here any moment" harry smiled and said "you seem to hit it off with Tracey" Ron looked at him weirdly and said "we just played a game of chess"

Before harry could reply the door opened and Daphne entered with Tracey "So harry" she began once they settled down "last time I had explained you about the 'ice queen' rumour, now, I want you to clear out a few rumours I know"

Harry thought about it, he had never really heard any of those rumours. "Well I never really heard any of those rumours, so sure" Daphne nodded and said "we know that you beat a troll in your first year, but people say that you tamed it and have it hidden in the forbidden forest" the statement was so bizarre that harry laughed.

"People actually believe that?" he asked Daphne once his mirth had subsided, Daphne nodded and harry said "well firstly, it was Ron who dropped the club on the head of the troll…" "Actually" interrupted Ron "I'm pretty sure it was you sticking your wand up its nose that got him" "ewww" Tracey and Daphne said as they made faces

"Thanks Ron" Harry mumbled "anytime mate" Ron replied cheerfully "okay" Tracey began "there was one about you being able to cast the patronus charm, and chasing off a hundred dementors

Harry frowned as he remembered wormtail, but nodded and said "yeah learnt it in my third year" this shocked Daphne and Tracey "a corporeal patronus?"Daphne asked harry which earned her a puzzled looks "what?" Ron asked "does it have a definite shape?" Tracey asked to which harry nodded "yeah it's a stag" again Daphne and Tracey looked at him in awe.

harry smiled _"this is gonna be a long night" _"harry thought


	3. Chapter 3

Albus Dumbledore was tired; he had been keeping tabs on the order's activities and he felt that the situation was bad, Voldemort seemed to be gaining supporters, and the order had trouble keeping tabs on them.

There was also the worry of horcruxes, but they were only a theory at this stage and even if they were real (which Dumbledore was quite certain of), there was the question of what and how many there might be. There was also the worry about what and where they were.

And finally there was the matter of Harry Potter; Dumbledore was pretty sure that harry himself had a piece of Voldemort's soul in his scar, making him a horcrux to lord Voldemort and connecting the two of them.

The aged headmaster was sure that Voldemort could feel harry in his mind, that's why he had tried to keep his distance from harry and prevented his friends from sending him letters with information crucial to the order

But harry finding the orb of wishes had changed things as he had decided to claimed his inheritance. Harry had been rid of the trace and had possibly been practicing for combat against lord Voldemort, along with his friend Ron Weasley.

Dumbledore sighed; he was getting too old for this.

**XXXXXXX**

Harry headed for another detention with Umbridge, he hoped she didn't have that quill of hers repaired, but if she did, he was pretty sure he could break it again. Breaking it before had helped him be there for the keeper tryouts, and see Ron become the new keeper. Harry entered the office and Umbridge looked up at him and narrowed her eyes.

"Sit Mr. Potter" she indicated the chair in front of her and when harry sat down, gave him the same, or at least a similar; quill. "Please begin writing your lines" she told him, watching him with her beady little eyes.

Harry gave her a fake smile and hardened his skin, then began trying to write…key word being trying as the tip of the quill broke again "how did you do that?" trilled Umbridge, as harry simply looked at her in, what he hoped was a puzzled expression. "How did I do what?" he asked while grinning internally "how did you break the tip of the quill?" she nearly screeched at harry who said "it happened by itself, I have no idea how this is possible"

Umbridge snarled and took a minute to regain her composure, then croaked in her falsely sweet voice "very well, since you have behaved well, these last few days, I have decided to cancel your detention, for the other days, you may go now, and try to behave in all classes"

After harry left, Umbridge's smile melted _"how is he doing this?" _Umbridge wondered _"his wand was not in his hand, and he didn't break it by force, so how is he doing it?" _Umbridge mulled over this, before she got an idea making her smile "well Mr. Potter" Umbridge spoke to herself, "maybe you can answer my questions yourself"

**XXXXXXX**

"Daph" Tracey called shaking Daphne out of her reverie; they were studying in the library, "what were you thinking about?" Tracey asked her to which Daphne smiled and replied "last night"

**FLASHBACK**

_Daphne and Tracey had just finished another evening with harry and Ron _"that sounds like it's a double date" _Daphne thought with a shudder they were just wrapping up when harry suddenly said "Daphne, can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?"_

_Daphne stiffened _"this is it" _she thought. She nodded at Tracey who seemed hesitant to leave but left after glaring at harry, followed by Ron who gave harry a worried glance, closing the door behind him._

"_Daphne" harry began "Ron explained the pure-blood society dominance thing to me" Daphne could feel her heart hammer against her rib cage "and let me promise you that I will treat you like an equal and support you in whatever career you choose"_

_Daphne blinked, not sure if she heard correctly "I'll treat you like an equal, and..." "Really" Daphne cut him off "yes" harry answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Thank you" Daphne said softly after a few seconds, it was a very huge thing for her "you're welcome" harry replied uncertainly_

_Daphne smiled and said "thanks, and good night" "good night" harry replied and Daphne shot out grabbed Tracey who was standing outside and sped to their common room_

**FLASHBACK END**

"That was rather unexpected of him" Tracey agreed, when harry had asked for a private moment with Daphne she thought he was going to try and force himself on her, but instead he swore to treat her like an equal.

"Y'know he is quite different from what I expected him to be" Daphne murmured thoughtfully, causing Tracey to raise an eyebrow "Daphne Greengrass are you falling in love?" Tracey demanded in a sing-song voice.

"What?" Daphne asked, flushed, "it was just an observation" Tracey just smiled at her causing Daphne to huff _"still" _a small voice said in her head_ "you didn't say no."_

**XXXXXXX**

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the common room, where Harry couldn't believe his eyes as he read the letter Percy Weasley had written to Ron, it read:

_Dear Ron,_

_I have only just heard (from no less a person than the Minister for Magic himself, who has it from your new teacher, Professor Umbridge) that you have become a Hogwarts prefect._

_I was most pleasantly surprised when I heard this news and must firstly offer my congratulations. I must admit that I have always been afraid that you would take what we might call the "Fred and George" route, rather than following in my footsteps, so you can imagine my feelings on hearing you have stopped flouting authority and have decided to shoulder some real responsibility._

_But I want to give you more than congratulations, Ron, I want to give you some advice, which is why I am sending this at night rather than by the usual morning post. Hopefully you will be able to read this away from prying eyes and avoid awkward questions._

_From something the Minister let slip when telling me you are now a prefect, I gather that you are still seeing a lot of Harry Potter. I must tell you, Ron, that nothing could put you in danger of losing your badge more than continued fraternization with that boy. Yes, I am sure you are surprised to hear this - no doubt you will say that Potter has always been Dumbledore's favourite - but I feel bound to tell you that Dumbledore may not be in charge at Hogwarts much longer and the people who count have a very different - and probably more accurate - view of Potter's behaviour. I shall say no more here, but if you look at the Daily Prophet tomorrow you will get a good idea of the way the wind is blowing - and see if you can spot yours truly!_

_Seriously, Ron, you do not want to be tarred with the same brush as Potter, it could be very damaging to you future prospects, and I am talking here about life after school too._ _It may be that you are afraid to sever ties with Potter - I know that he can be unbalanced and, for all I know violent - but if you have any worries about this, or have spotted anything else in Potter's behaviour that is troubling you, I urge you to speak to Dolores Umbridge, a really delightful woman, who I know will be only too happy to advise you._

_This leaves me to my other bit of advice. As I have hinted above, Dumbledore's regime at Hogwarts may soon be over. Your loyalty, Ron, should be not to him, but to the school and the Ministry. I am very sorry to hear that so far Professor Umbridge is encountering very little cooperation from staff as she strives to make those necessary changes within Hogwarts that the Ministry so ardently desires (although she should find this easier from next week - again, see the Prophet tomorrow!). I shall say only this - a student who shows himself willing to help Professor Umbridge now may be very well placed for Head Boy ship in a couple of years!_

_I am sorry that I was unable to see more of you over the summer. It pains me to criticize our parents, but I am afraid I can no longer live under their roof while they remain mixed up with the dangerous crowd around Dumbledore (if you are writing to Mother at any point, you might tell her that a certain Sturgis Podmore, who is a great friend of Dumbledore's, has recently been sent to Azkaban for trespass at the Ministry. Perhaps that will open their eyes to the kind of petty criminals with whom they are currently rubbing shoulders). I count myself very lucky to have escaped the stigma of association with such people - the Minister really could not be more gracious to me - and I do hope, Ron, that you will not allow family ties to blind you to the misguided nature of our parents' beliefs and actions either. I sincerely hope that, in time, they will realize how mistaken they were and I shall, of course, be ready to accept a full apology when that day comes._

_Please think over what I have said most carefully, particularly the bit about Harry Potter, and congratulations again on becoming prefect._

_Your brother,_

_Percy_

Ron snatched the letter from harry and ripped it to pieces "that piece of shit is unbelievable" Ron snarled, but harry only half heard him, he was wondering if this was how Sirius felt, hated by almost everyone, always on the run.

"Harry" Hermione shook him out of his day dream, "what?" harry asked "where have you and Ron been running off to these past few days?" she demanded angrily, harry looked at Ron who shrugged; "come with me" harry said dragging Hermione out of the common room.

He pulled her into an empty classroom and said "okay Hermione, I will tell you everything, but you have to promise not to overreact, okay?" Hermione nodded and harry took a deep breath "I'm betrothed" "WHAT?" Hermione screeched causing harry to wince and explain everything to her.

"This is barbaric" Hermione announced after harry explained her everything including the bar tab contract, his meetings with Daphne and the pureblood society thing. "it may be so, but there's nothing we can do about it" Ron added "you don't know that Ron" Hermione admonished him.

Ron rolled his eyes and said "yes I do, I've looked up this stuff for harry, and his contract is quite simple, making it hard to find reasons to break the contract" Hermione was surprised that Ron had looked up anything, and was pissed that he knew it while she didn't.

"Why didn't you tell me anything?" she demanded to Ron who shrugged and said "it was not my place to tell you" she turned to harry who answered the unspoken question "I didn't know how to react"

Hermione huffed and declared "I'm still gonna look it up" and marched out of the room probably to the library, "…she took it well" Ron said making harry snort "no kidding" they stood in silence for a few minutes before Ron said "hey harry" "yeah Ron?" "I have received the ingredients for the animagus potion." Harry's grin could have brightened the dark side of the moon.

Harry and Ron had started on their animagus forms during the holidays with help from Sirius and Remus, and had reached to a level where they could perform body alteration, now all they needed was the animagus potion for a proper transformation.

**2 hours later**

Ron and harry were still in the unused classroom bent over Harry's cauldron, which they had retrieved from their dorm, "it's a pale blue now" Ron informed harry who checked the recipe and said "add the lionfish spine"

They had to order the ingredients especially as a few of them were not available in the student's cupboard and stealing out of Snape's personal cupboards was out of the question after the previous year.

The animagus potion was a potion that suppressed a person's human instincts and enhanced their animalistic ones; they were designed to help people in achieving their animagus forms, and was, interestingly made mainly from animal parts and did not include a single plant.

"the potion is ready" harry announced once the potion turned a glowing green, They poured the potion into two goblets and raised them "cheers" harry said "bottoms up" Ron added and the two drank the potion.

Harry immediately finished the potion and felt amazing, it was like he was lighter than air and warmer than fire, he saw Ron growl like a wolf and sniff the air like a dog as if looking for a smell. Harry raised his wand, pointing it at himself and saw Ron do the same.

"Bestialiter" they cried at the same time, harry felt his body feel lighter, he could feel his bone twist and turn, he seemed to be shrinking, his neck seemed to thin out and his skin pricked like he was being poked by a thousand needles all at once.

In a few minutes harry regained his senses and looked at himself, he was a bird, with glowing bluish wings, tipped with gold, he flapped them and felt himself rise and felt a warmth in him. he then looked at the other animal in the room.

Ron had turned into a wolf, he was slightly big as Sirius' dog form, and was covered with lustrous white fur and his paws were tipped with gleaming silver claws. His tale was swishing about and his snout was in the air looking at harry; with his icy blue eyes. His irises, harry noticed had turned into slits.

Harry gave a trill and Ron whimpered, harry flew around the room a couple of times, but the room was too small for him to fly properly in, which meant he was a big bird. Ron meanwhile jumped and ran around the room, trying to get his bearing straight. After trying a couple more times to fly in the room harry gave up and transformed back to his human form.

Seeing harry transform Ron followed suit, the two stood there grinning at each other, at that moment harry felt truly elated, Voldemort, Daphne, Hogwarts nothing mattered, all that mattered was that he had followed his father's footsteps and had come one step closer to becoming a marauder.

**XXXXXXX**

The next day harry and Ron waited for the morning post to see what Percy was talking/writing about, the morning post came and Ron swore when he and harry saw the front page

MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM

DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED

FIRST EVER HIGH INQUISITOR

The rest of the article went on about Umbridge, and her authority as the high inquisitor, and a load of rubbish about her success "this cannot be happening" Ron whispered "who is she to decide who is capable of teaching in Hogwarts"

At that moment Hermione plopped beside them and said with a huff "I could not find anything to help you with the marriage contract problem" "forget that and read this" Ron said handing Hermione the newspaper, Hermione read it and said "but this is preposterous" "she isn't qualified to teach, forget evaluating other teachers" "exactly" harry muttered

The next few days they saw Umbridge in many of their classes 'evaluating' the professors making harry sure that she was out to try and sabotage their learning, he himself had nearly lost it in the care of magical creature's class when he saw her ask questions about Hagrid while the lesson was being taught by Grubby-Plank.

**XXXXXXX**

Harry was sitting in the common room, trying to get his mind off Umbridge, by working on his homework, he and Ron had decided to take their studies more seriously, but he had no idea where Ron and Hermione were.

"Harry" Hermione entered the common room "I met with Greengrass…" "WHAT?" harry cut her off "why?" "Just to see what she's like" Hermione answered "she seems very nice and a great person"

Harry groaned, he really wished Hermione would stop being so nosy about his life and let him make his own decisions "you had no right to do that" he snapped at her "what do you mean?" she demanded hotly "I'm your friend, I have to make sure that she's not a death eater in training"

"Hermione stop treating me like a kid. I am perfectly capable of understanding people and their intentions, I don't need you to 'look out' for me" harry growled, at this point quite a few people were watching so Hermione simply scowled and went up to her dorm.

Harry simply rolled his eyes and went back to faking his divination homework when Ron ran into the common room with a book "hey harry" he greeted softly, "what" harry snapped still in an angry mood "whoa calm down" Ron said holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture "sorry" harry apologised "it's just that Hermione went and met Greengrass to see if she was 'alright'" harry made finger motions when he said alright.

"Ah" was all Ron said understanding how harry felt at being treated like a kid as Hermione did to him so often "but anyways, I found the identity of our animagus forms" this got Harry's attention as he had been interested in what his animagus form was, although it was clearly a phoenix, he wanted to know what sort of phoenix it was.

"Where did you find it?" harry asked trembling with anticipation "the library" Ron replied flipping through the book he brought. "What?" harry asked, caught off guard "you went to the library?" "Yes" Ron replied impatiently "now read this" he indicated the page he had opened, and harry obliged noticing the picture of a blue phoenix on the top:

_The Blaze Phoenix is a symbol of force and conviction, it is a phoenix neutral to the concept of light and dark wizards and only bonds with those it believes have faith in themselves and the strength to back it up, the phoenix is of a laid back personality, but if it's bonded/family are in danger, it can unleash terrible havoc. The Blaze Phoenix is the only breed of phoenix that can turn into pure fire, and is one of the strongest breed of phoenixes in existence according to human knowledge._

"Sweet mother of god" harry remarked amazed at the capabilities of his animagus form _"my capabilities" _he thought with a jolt "now check out my animagus form" Ron said bringing harry back to reality and showing him a page with a picture if a white wolf on it:

_The white wolf is a magical wolf, many times easy to be mistaken for its non-magical counterpart, but is larger in size. The white wolf is a symbol of fierceness and stamina; they are also natural leaders, though unlike most wolves that travel in packs, the white wolf is a loner, and rarely work in a pack, though if they do, they are always the leaders, the white wolves have the ability to leap great heights due to magically strengthened hind legs and have the ability to instil fear in other beings, by their presence alone._

"Mate this is amazing" harry remarked as Ron simply nodded "I know! but if we want to become true marauders we must orchestrate some pranks first" harry nodded and they both decided to think about what pranks to do.

**XXXXXXX**

"So what do you think of Hermione?" harry asked Daphne. He was meeting her aloe for the first time, and it was in the daytime even though it was in another empty classroom, "she's…nice" Daphne remarked

"buuut" harry prompted elongating the word "she seems kind of domineering" Daphne relented "and it's like she doesn't think you know the difference between right or wrong" harry nodded "she can be like that sometimes, but is otherwise a nice person" even though he wasn't happy with her, he felt the need to defend his friend.

Daphne didn't comment on that but said "there's another thing" harry motioned her to go on "me and Hermione were talking about how Umbridge is sabotaging or defence against the dark arts we felt the need to form a study group, not just of ourselves but others as well, to learn defence for our O.W.L.'s and because the dark lord had returned" she finished nervously.

Harry understood the idea, Daphne had believed his story when he had told it to her the last time they met, but had a habit of calling Voldemort the dark lord "that's a great idea" harry didn't understand why she was so nervous.

"Yes" she said slowly "but we wanted you to teach the class" harry blinked not sure if he heard clearly "what?" "Well since you took part in the triwizard tournament, and after hearing about all those adventures we are sure you are the most qualified person to teach the class"

"What?" harry asked not sure if he heard correct. Daphne repeated hew statement "but that was mostly luck" harry protested "luck?" Daphne demanded angrily "were you lucky to learn the patronus charm or the accio charm? Was it luck that helped you in the first year against Quirrell?"

"Firstly, calm down" Daphne cooled down at this "secondly I had help in all of these adventures" harry countered "that's true" Daphne conceded "but me, Hermione, Ron, all of us are here to help you if you have any problem. At least meet those interested in the study group in hog's head tomorrow."

Harry still wasn't convinced about it "please" Daphne pleaded with her big brown eyes "okay" harry relented forlornly "yes" exclaimed Daphne hugging harry tightly much to his surprise, "sorry" she apologised after a moment jumping back, disappointing harry who was enjoying it slightly.

"Its fine" harry waved off her apology she had become much more open since his promise to equality, "bye" Daphne said heading towards the door, but harry on instinct caught her arm, and before she could react kissed her on the cheek "bye" he replied heading out of the room.

Harry rushed to the common room after that _"you idiot" _he berated himself _"why did you do that? Now you'll just make her feel uncomfortable" _harry felt like killing himself "hey mate" Ron greeted him "what's up?"

Harry told him what happened and Ron just laughed and said "it's about time you took your relationship one step further" "but what if we're not ready? What if _she's _not ready?" harry asked him "well" Ron remarked "your reflexively kissing her shows, that you are ready, but if she feels uncomfortable, apologise and try to go back to how you were"

Harry couldn't believe what he had heard. Since when had Ron become an expert on relationships? "I can't believe I'm taking relationship advice from Ron Weasley" _"and getting a well thought response" _he added mentally, but would never utter out loud "you prat" Ron playfully punched harry on the shoulder.

They spent the rest of the day discussing who would possibly be interested in learning defence; playing chess and discussing what sort of prank to perform for their recognition as marauders.

**XXXXXXX**

The weekend trip to hogsmeade had arrived much too soon for harry, who was dreading meeting Daphne again, after the kissing incident and meeting the people interested in the study group. Harry was thinking about what to say to Daphne the entire way. That added to the fact that he had been having dreams about some door and a long corridor, made his morning rather sullen.

"We're not going to the three broomsticks?" Ron asked and harry noticed that they had indeed passed hogsmeade's famous pub, "no" Hermione answered "we're going to the hog's head as the three broomsticks is too noisy" "which means it will be harder to overhear our conversations" Ron countered and Hermione ignored him.

They entered the hog's head, and saw how shabby and gloomy it was. They approached the counter "three butterbeer's please" Hermione asked warily "and a private parlour" Ron added to which Hermione scowled at him. The bartender pulled out three dirty bottles and said "six sickles for the butterbeer and five galleons for the room" "I'll pay for it" harry said paying the bartender.

Once they were out of the bartender's hearing range Hermione hissed to Ron "Why did you ask for a private parlour?" "So that no one can overhear what we are discussing" Ron retorted "who would be interested in our group?" Hermione demanded to which Ron looked at her weirdly and said "Umbridge and her lackeys" like it was the most obvious thing in the world"

Hermione huffed as she and harry headed to the parlour and Ron volunteered to stay near the counter to direct the students to the parlour. Soon their classmates started trickling in, first Neville entered followed by the Patil sisters, Cho Chang and one of her friends whom harry did not recognize, followed by Michael corner, Terry boot and Anthony Goldstein followed by the three Gryffindor chasers and the Colin brothers.

A few minutes later a Ravenclaw girl named Morag McDougal entered followed closely by Luna Lovegood and Ginny soon three girls harry recognized as Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot and Sally Anne-Perks. She was followed by a pair of Slytherin girls harry recognized as Astoria Greengrass and Lily Moon.

Then Ernie Macmillan came in followed by Justin Finch-Fletchley and Zacharias Smith, then the twins and Lee Jordan, joined by Daphne and Tracey finally followed in by Ron and Theodore Nott, both of whom looked at edge. Almost all of them were carrying dirty butterbeer bottles.

"hello" Hermione said timidly casing all eyes to turn on to her "well, as you people know we all have gathered here because we want to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts, and not that rubbish Umbridge is teaching, so I thought that we should take matter into or own hands"

"Bet you want to pass yo O.W.L.'s though" Michael Corner said to which Hermione replied at once "of course I do, but..." "But it's about more than just our grades" Ron cut off Hermione "it's about being ready to fight V-V-Voldemort" the reaction was immediate and predictable, Cho Chang's friend shrieked, Neville yelped, a few others gasped or shuddered, but; harry noticed that Nott simply tensed, but did not react otherwise.

"Where's the proof that You-Know-Who is back?" asked the Hufflepuff boy named Zacharias Smith "well Dumbledore believes it" Hermione said as if it explained everything "you mean Dumbledore believes him" he said nodding at harry.

"Who are you?" Ron asked him, to which the boy sneered and replied "Zacharias Smith" he replied, "so how do we know that You-Know-Who is back?" he demanded, and all of a sudden harry understood why almost all of them were here

"You want to know what happened in the maze last year?" he asked to which everyone, except Ron, Hermione, Daphne and Tracey nodded "fine" harry said and told them everything, from the moment he and Cedric touched the trophy.

As he said it, it became easier for him, the words flowed out smoothly, but it was still hard, especially when he came to the part about his parents and Cedric coming out of Voldemort's wand. When he finished, he was met with total silence, everyone was staring at him in awe or apprehension.

"That's scary" Astoria Greengrass said, to general agreement "yes, well the point is that we all agreed to take lessons from harry" again people murmured their consent, so Hermione pulled out a parchment and quill and said "those agreeing to take the defense lessons should sign their name on the parchment"

"But it shouldn't clash with our quidditch practice" Angelina insisted

"Or ours" Cho agreed

"Or ours" added Zacharias Smith

"Yes, we'll accommodate for your quidditch schedule" Hermione added airily and signed her sign on the parchment and passed it on to harry who signed and passed it to Ron, one by one everyone signed their names on the parchment, "alright" Hermione said once Nott had finally signed the parchment "we'll tell you all where and when to meet once we find a place we can train at away from the prying eyes of Umbridge"

Slowly people left the parlor till only harry, Ron, Hermione, Daphne and Tracey were left "now that went well" Ron said as harry nodded and questioned "so where do you think we can do this?" "How about the library?" Hermione asked to which Ron made a face and said "I doubt madam Pince will take kindly to students shouting jinxes and stuff in the library" casing Hermione to frown.

"We'll think of something" Tracey said as Daphne nodded, Ron suddenly smiled as his eyes darted between harry and Daphne and he said "hey Hermione lets go to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop; I need a new quill" "ooh" Tracey said suddenly I need one too, so I'll come with you" and she and Ron dragged Hermione out of the room.

"_Damn you Ron" _harry cursed as he realized Ron left him alone with Daphne, who seemed to be realizing this as well as she looked anywhere except at harry, harry took a deep breath, mustering his courage _"okay mate" _he told himself_ "just apologize and everything will be fine" _"Daphne" he called her as she slowly looked at him "look I'm sorry about kissing you yesterday I know it's too early in our relationship to be doing that. I don't know what came over me, but it…"

"It's fine" Daphne said breaking Harry's rambling "it's not too early in or relationship to be doing that" harry couldn't say anything so Daphne walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek and said "I'll see you later" then walked out of the room leaving harry with a hand on his cheek.

Harry sighed and thought _"I think I'm in love" _


	4. Chapter 4

"Where do you think we can meet?" Harry asked Ron who shrugged. The duo were playing chess in the common room while discussing the possible locations they could meet for defence training, "I dunno Harry" Ron replied while his knight took out Harry's queen. "There are few places in this castle that Umbridge can't find us"

Harry pondered his next move, while Ron was looking around seeing if anybody was eavesdropping into their conversation, "we need a place, no one knows about" Ron said while Harry nodded "how about the shrieking shack?" Ron asked "nah" Harry said "it's too small for such a large group, plus it will be hard for so many people to go under the whomping willow, unnoticed" the two kept discussing a few more ideas, but couldn't find a solution to their problem.

**XXXXXXX**

"We haven't got any idea as to where we can practice" Harry told Daphne the next day, they were meeting after classes in an unused classroom, Harry, Hermione, Daphne and Tracey were there, but Ron was running a little late. "Well we have an idea" Daphne told Harry "why don't we study in the chamber of secrets?"

"No" Harry retorted sharply "absolutely not" "but think Harry" Hermione protested "only a parselmouth can open the chambers" Harry was about to answer when the door opened and Ron came in.

"What did I miss?" Ron asked making Hermione hiss "Ronald you sacred all of us" Ron rolled his eyes and replied "well that's one thing off my to-do list" to which Tracey giggled and asked "where were you?" "Completing my potions essay" Ron may be taking his work seriously now, but his first priority was still lazing around.

Hermione frowned at Ron but said nothing, "we were considering the chamber of secrets as the meeting place" Tracey updated Ron who looked horror struck "you can't be serious" Ron told her, to which Hermione questioned "why not? People can't go in without Harry's help"

"Yeah" Ron conceded "but I don't think people can learn properly in a place with death, demise and despair hanging in the air" "plus" Harry added "there's also the basilisk's corpse rotting down there" the girls frowned but agreed to let the place go.

"But we still need to figure out a place where Umbridge can't enter" Hermione pointed out "maybe we should try the boys toilet" Ron suggested jokingly making the girls make dismayed faces but the idea made Harry remember something.

"hey guys" everyone turned to Harry "last year Dumbledore indirectly told me about this place in the seventh floor that can turn into whatever we need it to be" Daphne, Tracey and Hermione beamed while Ron looked sceptical "and he told you how to find it?" Ron asked making Harry deflate "no" an idea suddenly popped up in Harry's mind making him grin "but we could ask him."

"House elf" Harry called out and an elf suddenly appeared in the room "how may dinky help you?" the elf asked and Harry replied "could you ask Dumbledore about how to enter the room on the seventh floor which provides you with anything you want?" the elf nodded and popped away.

"Now we wait" Harry informed the group who were looking at him curiously, they waited almost half an hour before the elf reappeared with a piece of parchment in her hand "the headmaster told me to give you these instructions sir" the elf squeaked and Harry thanked her as she left.

The parchment read '_pass the portrait of Barnabas the barmy three times thinking about what you need and a door to the room of requirement will appear.' _ The group made their way to seventh floor, quietly making sure no one would see them or wonder what they were up to.

They paced in front of the portrait, just as Dumbledore had instructed. On the third pass, Harry noticed the faces of his friends lighting up with wonder. Harry turned to see what had so caught their attentions when he saw a door that had not been there before. "The Room of Requirement" Daphne said as the group made their way in.

it was a large room, with one side of the room being a large shelf filled with books, sneakoscopes, dark detectors and foe glass, and there was even a corner built like the gym Harry and Ron had trained in at Harry's house, with mats, punching bags and even weights. "This place is great" Hermione declared eying the books. "Yeah, we can definitely practice work here" Harry conceded. They explored the room for a few more minutes before leaving, and agreeing to inform the other people for their first session.

**XXXXXXX**

The next day, Harry and Ron got up early and went down for breakfast in a rush, they sat at their table and kept staring at the Slytherin table, as if waiting for someone. Slowly, the great hall started filling and soon was packed with students but few Slytherin boys entered the hall "I wonder what happened to those snakes" Fred muttered beside Harry who had to bite his lip to hold his laughter.

"Hey guys, did you here?" Neville came rushing into the great hall and approached Harry, Ron Fred and George "the Slytherin boys had an incident in bathroom in the dungeons." Neville panted "apparently water rushed out of taps, shower heads, basins and even chamber pots, shooting into the bathroom, and growing boils on contact of skin. Few boys who were lazing around escaped the problem" the boys along with other kids from Gryffindor and other houses roared at laughter at this piece of news.

"Who would've done that?" Fred asked out loud "yeah mate?" George agreed "I mean we are the few people who play pranks in this school" this shocked almost everyone who had assumed that Fred and George had done it. The rest of breakfast had been normal except for the continuous buzz about who could be the new pranksters, and Hermione's dismay at the possibility of there being more pranksters.

Harry and Ron were able to maintain a mask of only slight amusement near Hermione but burst out laughing once she rushed off to arthimacy. "I think we've done a great job talon" Ron told Harry who nodded "absolutely fantastic fang" Harry agreed. The two had sneaked out the previous night and had figured out which pipe connected to the boy's bathroom in the dungeon using the marauders map, and added the boils potion and a timed spell to push the water towards the bathroom. They had then sent a letter to Sirius informing him of their accession as marauders.

The two managed to control their delight for the rest of the day, but had a hard time, when Umbridge was taking an inspection in charms class, but didn't have Malfoy or his cronies around to tell her something bad about the teacher, professor Flitwick. Harry managed to get through the rest of the day without incident, but he only had half a mind at work, and was nervous about the first defence group session.

Before Harry could register, the day was over and he was heading to the room of requirement with his best friends. "So what do you plan to teach them first?" Ron asked Harry who shrugged, "I'll just start with the disarming spell" Harry replied they entered the room of requirement and waited.

Within a quarter of an hour everybody had arrived and sat down on cushions that had appeared magically. "Okay everyone" Harry addressed the gathering "we'll start by practicing…what Hermione?" Harry cut himself as Hermione had raised her hand "we need a leader" she declared "Harry's the leader" Cho Chang stated like it was obvious, if Harry hadn't been betrothed to Daphne he might have blushed, but now he didn't even feel the flutter in his stomach like he used to.

"We also need a name" Hermione declared. Once again Cho Chang spoke up "how about Defence Association? We can call it DA for short" "yes DA" Ginny agreed "but we'll use it as short form of Dumbledore's Army" "no" Ron protested "DA sounds too much like Dark Arts for my liking" there were many murmurs of agreement "Defence Team" Theo Nott suggested from the back of the group. It was the first time Harry had heard the boy speak. "DT" Ron muttered out loud as everyone nodded their consent Hermione wrote it on top of the parchment and pinned it to a wall.

"As I was saying" Harry began again "we'll start with the disarming spell." "Disarming?" Zacharias Smith sneered "how will that help us?" he demanded "It helped me against Voldemort" Harry replied quietly as people winced and fidgeted "it might help you too"

No one else argued and quickly people paired up and started shooting the spell at each other. Harry was right in starting with basics as there was a lot of poor aiming and many books were flying off the shelves.

Harry was left without a partner and was free to make rounds to see how everyone was doing. Ron had successfully disarmed Hermione twice, much to her surprise; the Creevy brothers were enthusiastic but responsible for most of the flying books, Luna made Ginny's robes flow upwards, covering her face, and making Harry laugh as he explained Luna what she was doing wrong.

Harry saw that Neville was partnered with Nott who was motioning for Neville to disarm him. Harry watched as Neville successfully disarmed Nott twice before Nott disarmed him and the two tried to perform the spell faster than the other. Harry also saw many others and helped them, gave them tips and advice, before calling it a day.

"Same time, on Wednesday" Harry called out as people left in groups of two's and three's "this club is amazing" Ron declared once only he, Hermione and Harry were left. Harry had to agree it was quite fun. "But we should focus on a few harder spells soon" Hermione added "we'll need them for O.W.L.'s" Ron made choking motions towards Hermione making Harry snigger; he knew this club was going to be fun.

**XXXXXXX**

The DT was an immense success they had moved from disarming to stunning, then the jelly leg jinx and finally the reductor curse. They had then decided to add physical training to the classes, starting with a basic workout to increase everyone's strength, speed and flexibility. Then Harry and Ron started slowly teaching everyone the various aspects of MMA.

Currently the two were showing grappling methods to the group. "Ouch" Harry groaned as Ron threw him onto the training mat. After picking him up by his left leg and right arm "as you can see" Ron addressed the group "the key is to unbalance your opponent rather than use your strength to throw the opponent" the class murmured their understanding.

Ever since the DT had started, everyone had started seeing Ron as more than Harry Potter's sidekick, but as a wizard in his own right. He also seemed to be attracting the attention of many females. Harry got up and asked "now who wants to try first?" and Neville raised his hand along with Theo.

Theo had become quite integrated with the group. He had a hard exterior but when people got to know him turned out to be quite shy and intelligent. Even Ron who was initially mistrustful of him had begun to get a shine to him, though that was partially because Theo was an excellent chess player, but hadn't been able to beat Ron yet. Theo also seemed to always be encouraging Neville who had developed a liking to him as well.

Everyone formed a ring around Neville and Theo, as the two threw a few punches and kicks, before Neville drove at Theo and grappled him, throwing him to the ground. Everyone clapped as Ron patted Neville on the back.

"Okay now everyone, start sparring" the group broke into pairs of two and three and started sparring, while Harry and Ron went around observing everybody's progress and correcting them where they went wrong. Harry noticed Daphne sparring with Tracey and also noticed her curves and blushed. He had noticed her body many times but staring at her curves still made him blush. He then went about observing a few other people and almost laughed as he noticed Ron help Morag McDougal as she was blushing at his contact, but Ron was completely oblivious to this.

"Okay everyone" Harry announced out loud "time's up for today, I'll inform you of the next session through the coins." Hermione had devised fake galleons for communication as it would have appeared weird for students of different houses to talk with each other frequently.

Everyone slowly filed out of the room till only Harry and Daphne remained "good lesson" Daphne told Harry who nodded, while trying not to look at her curves. "Best of luck for your match on Saturday" Daphne wished Harry. It was the first match of the season Gryffindor vs. Slytherin.

"Not that I mind it but shouldn't you be cheering for Slytherin?" Harry asked Daphne who rolled her eyes "I couldn't care less about quidditch but since you're my boyfriend…" Harry's heart fluttered at this "…I'll be cheering for you" Harry smiled at this and softly kissed her "good night" he wished her as she replied "good night."

Harry smiled as he remembered how they had celebrated Daphne's birthday

**FLASHBACK**

"Where are you taking me?" Daphne asked Harry who had a scarf tied around her eyes and was making her miss dinner "surprise" Harry whispered into her ear making Daphne growl, she hated surprises. After climbing a few stares Harry took off her scarf to reveal a beautiful sight.

They were atop a tower with a table for two set out against a beautiful background of the night sky. The table was laden with a picnic basket and a cake with a single candle on it. "Happy birthday" Harry whispered into her ear. "How…?" "Dobby" Harry answered her. Harry then made her blow the candle and even sung happy birthday (off key) and even fed her cake with his own hands.

They then had a wonderful dinner of grilled chicken and blueberry with butterbeer that Harry wouldn't tell how he got hold of. Before she knew it Daphne was standing in the corridor adjacent to her common room. Harry wanted to accompany her till her common room but Daphne didn't want to risk anyone knowing about them.

"Hold on" Harry grabbed her forearm as she turned to leave, "I still have to give you your birthday gift" he pulled out a box from his cloak and opened it to reveal a necklace with a silver locket shaped like a D with a green stone in the middle "is that a sapphire?" she asked Harry who shook his head "it's a peridot" "my birthstone!" Daphne added and Harry smiled and put it around her neck.

"Thank you" she said leaning in and Harry instinctively leaned in and kissed her on the lips. He drew back after a moment horrified at his action _"you're an idiot" _a voice told him inside his head and Harry tried to explain but Daphne kissed him on the lips again. "goodnight Harry" she whispered into his ear and walked away leaving a dazed Harry "goodnight" he called after her.

**FLASHBACK END**

**XXXXXXX**

"You've got to eat something" Harry admonished Ron who was too nervous to eat scaring Harry and Hermione "you need your strength" Fred added as Ron pushed away a plate of bacon. Somehow Ron managed to swallow a bit of toast and bacon and the Gryffindor team headed to the lockers to change.

Somehow Ron changed into his quidditch robes and walked down onto the pitch along with the rest of the team. They mounted their brooms and shot off into the air, and the chant started "_Weasley cannot save a thing,_

_He cannot block a single ring,_

_That's why Slytherins all sing:_

_Weasley is our King._"

Ron gritted his teeth both nervous and angry _"I got a bad feeling" _he moaned internally Harry was already sweeping the skies for the snitch and Ron was keeping an eye on the quaffle soon Slytherin chaser Warrington was heading towards Ron with the quaffle while the Slytherins continued to sing 'Weasley is our king' even louder "…and the quaffle heads towards Gryffindor keeper Ronald Weasley" lee Jordan commented loudly, trying to drown out the singing.

"_Be like the wolf" _Ron told himself. Thinking about his animagus form always made him feel more confident. Ron dived as Warrington threw the quaffle and caught it squarely. He then, without missing a beat, pushed magic through his muscles and threw the quaffle like a buldger towards the Slytherin hoops where Katie Bell caught it and was able to score for Gryffindor.

Ron turned towards Harry to see him beaming at Ron and nodded at him as Harry started hunting for the snitch again. Ron was able to save two more goals, but let one in as the chasers scored four more times. The 'Weasley is our king' chant was taken over by the Gryffindors who were cheering Ron on.

Soon Harry saw the snitch and dived for it with Malfoy following behind him, the snitch changed direction getting closer towards Malfoy, making Harry take a sharp turn as Malfoy caught up to him, but Harry was still ahead by an inch and was able to catch the snitch from right in front of Malfoy.

Harry held up the snitch and barely restrained himself from singing out loud-WHAM Harry fell to the ground but didn't let go of the snitch. "Did someone get the number of that truck?" Harry asked shaking his head as his team mates landed around him "he's in shock" Fred muttered not understanding what a truck was "dirty bastard" Ron muttered darkly glaring at Crabbe who had hit the buldger. Malfoy landed near them white faced with fury, but still sneering "did you like my lyrics?" he asked Ron "we wanted to…" he continued but Ron cut him off "I loved your lyrics" everyone stared at him shocked, no one more so than Malfoy "I'm also pleased that you consider me your king, but considering you lot, even Mudungus Fletcher could become your king"

The Gryffindor quidditch team started laughing as Malfoy turned red "filthy blood traitor" he snarled making Fred, George and Harry jump at him while Ron shouted "NO". Crabbe and Goyle ran towards Malfoy but Umbridge reached them first

"Hem hem" she cleared her throat

Ron really wanted to tear out her head and burn it on a stake

**XXXXXXX**

"Banned?" Angelina asked in a hollow voice "how can you be banned?" she demanded the entire Gryffindor quidditch team was sitting in the common room. The atmosphere was not one of victory but of defeat "but that's crazy" Katie said numbly "not to mention Crabbe had hit the buldger at Harry first" Alicia added furiously

"We're sorry" Fred murmured looking like his pet dog had died, as did George and Harry. No one said anything, but soon the three girls went to their dorms to sleep as did Fred and George, leaving Harry and Ron in the common room.

"Kill me" Harry pleaded to Ron who looked right at Harry and said "Daphne would torture me but not let me die" Harry sighed desolate so Ron tried to distract him "how are things between you and Daphne?" he asked Harry who replied "fine" Ron mentally sighed _"this is gonna be hard" _"have you snogged yet?" he asked Harry who blushed and replied "yes" Ron grinned and continued asking

"How many time? How long? Did you do any other stuff?" Harry blushed and stuttered as Ron laughed and mentally cheered at distracting Harry. "Guys" Hermione rushed downstairs "Hagrid's back"

**XXXXXXX**

"Must say I 'spected yeh lot ta come, but not until tomorrow" Hagrid grumbled as the trio made themselves comfortable in Hagrid's hut. "Surprise" Ron quipped opening his hands in a grand gesture while Hermione rolled her eyes and Harry sniggered.

"So how was meeting with the giants?" Harry asked the half-giant casually as if asking about the weather. Hagrid jumped and spilt a little bit of his tea onto his lap. "How'd yeh know about tha?" He asked bewildered.

"Kind of obvious" Ron said, making a motion with his hand toward Hagrid. Hagrid stared at them for a moment before his expression softened. "I 'spose it is at tha. Yeah, I went to see the giants. Me and Madame Maxime made the trek. She's a fine woman, yeh know. Didn't even mind when we had to slum it, which was most of the trip" "But why are you only getting back now? School started a week ago" Harry asked him causing Hagrid to turn a bit shifty "had ta take care of summa family business" Hagrid replied.

The three tried to pry more information, but Hagrid wouldn't budge on it.

**XXXXXXX**

The next few days were busy for Harry, with trying to get Hagrid to teach about safe animals to prevent Umbridge to get him sacked, sulking about the quidditch ban, teaching the DT and perfecting his animagus form and spending time with Daphne.

"What's on your mind?" Daphne questioned Harry who smiled and kissed her on the lips "just thinking" he replied evasively "about the quidditch ban?" Daphne asked angrily, she had been trying to get him to stop sulking about it for days. "Yes" Harry replied glumly "Harry" she ushered softly "you have to stop fretting about it" "how?" Harry asked, miserable.

Daphne snogged him and pushed her tongue into his mouth; "like that" she replied breaking the kiss "Un-huh" Harry replied dumbly as Daphne smirked and said "we need to go for DT" she then left the unused classroom to go to the room of requirement. She and Harry had decided to keep their relationship under wraps for now and tried not to arouse any suspicion of the DT, so they would enter the room at different times.

Harry sat glazed for a few minutes before following Daphne out of the room. He was still thinking about the kiss when he entered the room of requirement. There were still a few people yet to come, so everyone was hanging around and simply chatting. Harry noticed a group of boys surrounding Theo Nott.

Intrigued, the raven haired boy made his way to the group and asked "what's going on?" all of them turned to Harry scared; except for Neville who seemed downright horrified and Theo who was calm and collected "we're betting on who become's Ron first girlfriend" Theo replied calmly as everyone looked at him like he was insane.

"You're betting on who Ron ends up with?" Harry asked quietly and not nodded. Harry recollected Ron's interaction with girls for the past few days and came to a decision "I bet five galleons on Katie Bell" everyone except Theo was shocked, they expected Harry to be angry on them betting on his best friend like a horse, but instead he too was betting. Soon other boys too bet on various girls, a few even bet on Daphne, but soon Ron entered and everyone hushed up and got ready for the lessons.

"today, we'll begin on sword fighting" Harry began addressing the crowd as a murmur rippled through the students, they had been looking forward to this for a long time "okay" Harry began "take out you wands and say the spell _ensis _it will transform your wand into the sword most suited for you. There is no wand movement as the wand itself is to be transfigured." Everyone nodded their accord and Harry motioned for them to do it.

"_ENSIS_" everyone shouted though only a few transformed. Harry had turned his wand into a Japanese nodachi, almost four feet with blue flame like energy emanating from it; Ron had transformed his wand into four feet long German Messer with a curved point, the grip long enough for three hands and an ornate hilt twice as long as the grip. Green energy was radiating from his blade

Neville's had turned into a Norse broadsword, Theo had turned his into a Scottish claymore, Hermione had gotten a Roman makhaira and Daphne had gotten a rapier, but no one else had succeeded. After a few tries everyone had been successful. Most of them had transformed their wands into long swords or rapiers, though a few had been distinct.

Lee Jordan's had turned into a cutlass, Cho Chang had turned hers into a Chinese jian, Ernie Macmillan had gotten a falchion, Tracey had gotten a sabre and the Patil twins had transformed their wands into Indian talwar's along with a few other people with ones that Harry didn't recognize.

"Any questions?" Harry asked to which Anthony Goldstein raised his hand "what is that blue fire on your sword and that green energy on Weasley's?" Harry smirked and answered "that is our magic. Our wands may have turned into swords but they still act as conductors for our power which appears like energy. My magic is more attuned to fire so it appears like blue flames, while Ron's magic is similar to the wind and appears as green waves of energy." The crowd burst into murmurs once Harry finished his lecture. Harry spotted Ron who was smirking and gave him a, we-share-a-secret look. Once Harry had decided to teach the DT what he and Ron had learnt in the summer, he had written letters to their teachers and had gotten books from them about their respective subjects.

He had also learnt that all three had been inducted into the order of the phoenix and now knew about Sirius and were helping spread the word about Voldemort being back. Harry had also written to Sirius about his and Ron's animagus training which seemed to excite Sirius who offered them a few tips on their training to transform wandlessy and partial transformation. But further contact had been made impossible as one day Hedwig had turned up hurt leading Harry to believe that someone had been trying to get Sirius' letter from her.

"Okay" Harry snapped out of his daydream and addressed the gathering "I'll now show you a few basic moves of swordsmanship. You have to be perfect with them before you can learn channelling magic" in under a minute everybody was in position and Harry showed them various moves such as thrust, slashing, blocking and a few others and made them practice while he observed them.

Harry went around observing everyone and helping those with different sword adjust their movements accordingly, he then headed over to where Theo and Neville were practicing "so which girls are in the running?" Harry whispered to Theo; making sure Ron was on the other side of the room. "Quite a few" Theo replied keeping up a poker face "Parvati Patil, Padma Patil, Morag McDougal, Susan Bones, Sally Anne Perks, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, Luna Lovegood, Tracey Davis and even Daphne Greengrass"

Harry grinned at the last one and said "that's quite a list" "he's quite the guy" Theo replied motioning towards the redhead who was indeed being stared by quite a few girls. Harry just shook his head and went back to helping the others. Soon it was past curfew and Harry sent off the DT members one by one till he, Ron Daphne and Tracey were left.

"Good bye" Daphne whished kissing Harry on the lips as Harry slid his arm around her waist "goodbye" Harry replied kissing her again, after a few minutes she and Tracey left leaving only Ron and Harry. "You two are sweet" Ron complemented Harry who simply smiled brightly "so sweet you make me wanna puke" Ron finished as Harry replied "don't knock it till you've tried it"

Ron simply rolled his eyes and pulled out his wand and bowed towards Harry who returned the gesture. They had been practicing after DT to hone their won skills. They then started to duel.

Harry shot a stunner towards Ron who dodged and shot a bludgeoning hex at Harry who blocked it he then shot a bombarda hex at his friend who blocked it and let loose a tripping jinx at Harry who blocked it. The two kept trading spells like this till Harry called out "_da cultros"_

Immediately a bunch of knives shot towards Ron who shouted "_protego_" and blocked them then turned them around as they raced towards Harry who made them disappear. The two soon started trading elemental spells of fire, wind, lightning, earth and water. After an hour they decided to shift onto their animagus training.

Harry transformed into his phoenix form and Ron into the wolf from, the two stared at each other before Harry flew down towards Ron who leapt into the air with a growl.

**XXXXXXX**

Lord Voldemort was happy; he had personally scouted a recruit and was now integrating into his inner circle. Only Voldemort knew his real name, to the death eaters, he was simply known as Rictus. He had first observed him during his time in Alabama after being defeated by potter but had not approached him as he could sense that he was cunning and would probably try to destroy him. Now he was back in power and had decided to recruit him to use his potential and keep a close eye on him.

Rictus had a bizarre appearance, with turquoise hair; his left eye was golden while his right eye was blue. He was highly dangerous and a powerful necromancer, who could use necromancy through his wand or other various objects. His lack of dependency on his wand was what made him a very formidable foe, along with his ruthlessness and cunning.

"Rise Rictus" he instructed and said man obeyed "now give me your left arm" Rictus did; as the dark lord touched it with one finger branding him "welcome to my inner circle" Rictus simply smiled.

**XXXXXXX**

Before Harry knew it; December had arrived. The whole castle was covered in Christmas decorations, holly on walls, suits of armours with Santa hats; magical snow and icicles hanging from the ceiling and a general Christmas air. Also Mrs. Weasley had asked Ron to invite Harry to the Burrow for Christmas and Harry had agreed not wanting to spend it all by himself in the castle.

Later in the night Harry was dreaming about Daphne; he was in the room of requirement with her and they were on a bed and snogging passionately before his dream switched to that long corridor that had been plaguing his dreams, but his perspective was much different this time. He was on the ground, slippery, powerful and silent. His tongue could smell things he never smelled while awake. There was that man with the red hair working and not even noticing him, it would be so easy to kill him, one quick strike, he reared back, just as the man noticed him and struck…

"HARRY!" Yelled Ron for what was like the tenth time. "Oh god, he's really pale... Somebody get McGonagall!" "Harry come on, Wake up!" another voice that he knew was Dean was saying.

"Harry! Thank god you're awake! You gave us a fit shouting like that in your sleep!" Ron looked relieved now that Harry had opened his eyes Harry remembered what he had seen and knew he had no time to spare. "R-Ron, your father" Harry said, now wide awake.

"What about my father Harry?" Ron asked his best friend "He's been attacked! By… a snake! He's in danger!" Harry replied, frantic. "What do you mean? You just dreamed right?" asked the redhead. "No! It was real! I know it!" By that time McGonagall entered the room and Harry was really relieved to see her.

"Ron's father was attacked" Harry almost screamed but got himself under control and informed McGonagall about his dream. "Potter, Weasley follow me. The rest of you, go back to sleep" the Gryffindor head said leading said boys out of the room. She escorted them to Dumbledore's office where the headmaster seemed to be awake.

"What brings you here this time of the night?" he asked addressing the McGonagall who replied "potter had a dream about Weasley's father being attacked" immediately the aged headmaster's demeanour changed he then turned and addressed a couple of the portraits and made sure that Arthur Weasley was escorted to St. Mungo's before turning to professor McGonagall "Minerva please call the other Weasley children. Harry m'boy could you please explain me about your dream?"

Harry told Dumbledore and Ron all about how he was the snake and had attacked Mr. Weasley and just as he ended professor McGonagall had returned followed by the other Weasley's "what's going on?" Ginny asked Harry, but professor Dumbledore replied "you are heading to grimmauld place" he then held out a kettle and everyone sans the two teachers touched it. But just before feeling a pull in his navel, Harry glanced at Dumbledore and felt an uncontrollable urge to bite him.


	5. Chapter 5

"Back again, the blood traitor brats. Is it true that their father's dying?" was the first thing Harry heard as he fell on the floor of no. 12 Grimmauld place "OUT!" Harry heard Sirius shout and got up to see his godfather glare at the retreating house elf. "Hey" Sirius turned to them smiling brightly putting off Harry with the mood swings _"Is he pmsing?" _Harry wondered for a tenth of a second before shaking the thought out of his head

"Hey" Harry muttered hesitantly and Sirius asked "what's going on? Phineas said that Arthur's been badly injured but that's it. "Ask Harry" Ginny replied gesturing towards the raven haired teen "I too would like to hear this" one of the twins said Harry gulped and began his story.

He explained his dream to them and studied their reactions, Ginny seemed slightly scared while Fred, George and Sirius seemed worried, but Ron who had heard him tell Dumbledore that he was the snake was keeping his face expressionless but his skin was white and his eyes showed his panic.

"We need to go visit dad" one of the twins, Fred, said after Harry finished his story "you can't" Sirius blocked their way "why?" George demanded "How will you explain you knew about his accident before anyone else? You don't want to draw attention to the fact that Harry's been having these visions!" Sirius replied angrily "do you know what the ministry can make of this information?"

"Easy for you to say, you're just sitting here not risking your neck" Sirius stepped towards them and Harry thought he might hit them. "Just sit and wait till your mother arrives" the twins looked mutinous but did as they were told. It was the longest night in Harry's life, sitting in the dining room; all of them were restless, waiting to hear from Mrs. Weasley, Sirius had summoned a few bottles of Butterbeer for everybody, when a burst of fire from mid-air illuminated the room as a single scroll, fell on the ground.

"Fawkes" Sirius cried picking up the parchment "It's a letter from your mother" he informed the Weasley kids as he thrust the letter towards George who read it shakily "Dad is still alive, I am setting out for St. Mungo's. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum" George looked around the room "still alive… she makes it sound like…" he didn't need to finish the sentence. "Dad will be fine." Ron said forcefully, more to himself than to other's "he a strong man" Sirius nodded towards Ron and added "deceptively so."

They spent the rest of the night waiting for Mrs. Weasley who finally appeared at five past ten, according to Ron's watch. She entered the room and said "he's going to be alright" when she saw Fred, Harry and Ron, get up "he's tired, but he'll be alright" the three boys fell back into their chair, Fred sighed and Ron gave a shaky laugh "let's have breakfast" Sirius said joyfully.

**XXXXXXX**

Harry and Ron were in a room Ron had stayed in, when in Grimmauld place, they were told to go to sleep after breakfast, but as soon as they closed the door behind them, Ron turned to Harry and said "okay what's been eating you up?" Harry sighed and replied "I already talked to Sirius about this, when you guys were talking about Mr. Weasley"

**FLASHBACK**

"_Sirius I need to talk to you" Harry whispered to Sirius and pulled him aside, "what is it pup?" Sirius asked Harry who sighed and explained his dream to him "…I mean I had this irresistible urge to bite Dumbledore. What is happening to me?" Sirius looked grim for a moment "Harry I'm sure, that was just the aftermath of the dream. You are perfectly fine. If something was wrong with you, Dumbledore would have told you"_

**FLASHBACK END**

"Did Sirius forget that Dumbledore doesn't even acknowledge your existence anymore?" Ron asked Harry who looked away and started sulking. _"Gods, I wish I could talk to Daphne, she…" _Harry's eyes widened "Daphne" Harry said shaking Ron who was getting ready to sleep. "Daphne doesn't know, we're not in school. She'll freak out"

Ron looked around the room and said "send her a letter with Hedwig" pointing towards the snowy white owl. Harry sat still for a moment before nodding and rushing to the desk in the room. Harry sat for a moment and quickly composed a letter

_Daphne_

_Firstly let me apologize to you for not being able to meet you today, I know that it's the last day of school before winter vacations, but an accident had occurred, that required my immediate attention. I'll tell you about it when me meet next time. This brings me on to the second thing where I would like to invite your family to my house to meet them. I love you and I really miss you._

_Harry_

Harry reread the letter twice, and sent it to Daphne with Hedwig. There was no chance of anyone spotting Hedwig land near Daphne as they were probably on the train by now, and anyone in her compartment could be trusted. She wasn't the 'ice queen' for nothing. Now all that was left to do was wait. _"Please reply soon Daphne" _Harry asked to no one before falling asleep.

Daphne wanted to scream. She was sitting in the Hogwarts express surrounded by people, but felt lonely without her boyfriend "_Harry potter, my boyfriend" _the thought still sent a shiver up her spine. She spent the whole day looking for Harry but neither Harry, Ron or any other Weasley could be spotted in the castle. "Professor McGonagall had taken them away at night when Harry had a nightmare" Neville had told her, but that only made her fell more confused.

A jab to her side brought Daphne back to reality as she glared at her best friend "what?" she asked Tracey who replied "stop brooding, it doesn't suit you" Daphne was in a compartment with Tracey, Hermione, Luna, Neville and Theo.

Daphne had been surprised when the brown haired boy had joined them, but she supposed, Neville had talked him into it. Even though Theo Nott was in her house, Daphne had never talked to him much. She supposed it was because of how their house was, but he seemed like a really nice person, if only a bit of an introvert.

"hey look" Neville said pointing towards the window where Hedwig was flying alongside the train, the owl, entered their compartment and rested on Daphne's outstretched arm and held out the letter to her. Daphne hurriedly opened the letter and read it, frowning on the part about accident and smiling about the invitation.

She then looked up to see the others staring at her, Tracey and Hermione anxious, Luna and Theo curiously and Neville with his mouth open. _"Luna, Neville and Theo don't know about the contract" _Daphne remembered and then moaned _"oh great" _as the others looked at her expectantly.

**XXXXXXX**

Harry looked around him with interest; St. Mungo's wasn't much different from muggle hospitals, with people bustling about, healers, patients and friends and family of patients. Of course there was a large difference from muggle hospital with the hidden entrance and magic. But Harry didn't have much time to ponder this as he was quickly ushered into author Weasley's ward. "Hello!" Mr. Weasley called as he saw the Weasley's, Harry, Moody and Tonks (who had decided to accompany them) "hi dad" Ginny rushed to give her father a hug "how are you feeling Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley asked her husband as she approached his bed "fine, fine. They'd even let me out of here if they could take off these darn bandages.

"Why can't they take off the bandages?" Fred asked him "oh, it's just that whenever they take them off I start bleeding profusely" Mr. Weasley replied cheerily making the others stare at him. "Apparently the fangs of the snake had some special kind of poison that stops the skin from healing, though healer Mark Elliot is trying to develop an antidote" mark Elliot was the guy who taught healing to Harry and Ron, and had become a member of the order of the phoenix.

"It's good to know a famous healer personally" Mrs. Weasley said discreetly explaining the lie they had decided on. Mark Elliot was a famous healer, whose services were very expensive; there was no way the Weasley's could normally afford his services.

"So will you tell us what happened?" Fred asked his father who replied "I stayed late to complete some work, dozed off and got bitten" Mr. Weasley replied simply "you were guarding the weapon from you-know-who weren't you?" George asked in a low whisper. "George!" Mrs. Weasley whispered furiously "this isn't the place to talk about that" "and you're not in the order" Mr. Weasley added in a low voice.

The kids tried to pry some more information from Mr. Weasley, but the head of the Weasley family wouldn't breathe a word about the incident or what he had been doing. "Arthur, Mad-eye and Tonks are outside, wanting to talk to you" "well then let them come in" Arthur said to molly and then turned to the kids. "You kids can wait outside"

The Weasley children and Harry were ushered outside as Mad-eye and Tonks entered the room. "What the hell?" Fred demanded then pulled out a long flesh colored string from his pocket with an ear attached to one end. _"Extendable ears" _Harry realized. Ron had told him about how Fred and George were still developing things for their joke shop. And once in school the twins had let Harry in on all their prototypes and ideas.

"Wanna hear them?" Fred asked Harry with a grin, and Harry nodded curious yet apprehensive. "I got a bad feeling about this" Harry confided to Ron "yeah well let's see if you have seer's blood in you" Ron replied and inserted the end of the string into his ear.

**XXXXXXX**

"_You-know-who can possess potter" _mad-eye's words were ringing in Harry's head. He and the Weasley's had heard the adult's conversation two days ago and they had been haunting Harry ever since. He didn't speak to anyone after that, preferring to avoid the company of the others. _"Well I guess that feeling is mutual" _he had seen fear in the eyes of the Weasley's and thought that they were afraid of him.

"_I guess they have a reason to be. Maybe I am unstable and dangerous; I can't be with the others. I can't put Daphne in danger" _Harry was supposed to meet her tomorrow, but now he knew that he couldn't. Harry started packing his things intending to run away _"it's not like I have nowhere to go" _Harry told himself and glanced at the rings on his fingers _"I can hide wherever I want to, that Gol island seems perfect, isolated and alone" _even though Harry told that to himself, he felt scared. He would be all alone over there.

"Okay" Harry spoke out loud once he had packed his trunk Harry stated pulling it towards the door when a mordant voice commented "leaving so soon? You should have been in my house, we Slytherin too try to save our own necks given the chance" Harry glanced in the direction of the voice to see a painting, or to be more specific, the painting of Phineas Nigellus Black. Harry deduced that it must have been the one that had spoken "it's not my own neck I'm trying to save" Harry replied shortly "oh so it's a noble gesture" Phineas observed scathingly "what do you want?" Harry demanded to which the former headmaster replied lazily "I have a message from Dumbledore"

Harry spun around "what?" he demanded "stay where you are" Phineas told him to which Harry rebuked "I haven't moved. What's the message?" "I just gave it to you; you dolt" Phineas replied smoothly "stay where you are"

Harry was momentarily stunned before getting furious "stay where you are? He wants me to stay here without giving me a reason?" Harry growled, his voice slowly increasing "hey I'm just the messenger, don't shout at me" Phineas protested then rushed out of the portrait as Harry glared at him

"_Stay where you are? Does he really expect me to listen?"_ Harry picked up his trunk and opened the door to the room to see Sirius standing there. "I'm leaving" Harry informed Sirius "I'm coming with you" Sirius told Harry who shook his head "I can be possessed by Voldemort anytime; I can't put you or anyone else in…" "What about Daphne?" Sirius questioned Harry "she is betrothed to you plus you're supposed to meet her and her family in two days"

Harry froze "I can't meet them" "you can and you will. It's your responsibility as her future husband and Marquis Black." Sirius told Harry seriously, Harry guessed it was because it was his house's reputation at stake.

"Okay but even if I meet them at potter manor and…" Sirius interrupted Harry "No! You'll have to meet them at the Black Castle as your representing the house of Black." Harry wasn't sure about that "the black castle was a bit messy last we saw it" and that was the understatement of the year.

Sirius grinned at Harry "don't worry; I made Kreacher clean out the entire place after you went to school. Now you can properly host guests there." but Harry still had some doubts "what will they say, when they learn that Voldemort can possess me?" Sirius frowned "don't tell them" Harry opened his mouth to protest but Sirius didn't give him the chance "you can tell Daphne as it concerns her, but her family shouldn't have a say in how your relationship with Daphne goes."

Harry sighed; he knew Sirius was right, but it didn't make the queasiness in his stomach go. "Anyways" Sirius said ending the matter "I'm here, because everyone is worried about you, you barely eat, come out of the room or do anything for that matter" Harry was saddened "everyone is afraid of me" he replied to which Sirius laughed bitterly "are you sure, they're afraid _of_ youand not afraid _for _you"

Harry didn't reply. He had simply assumed the worst "thought so" Sirius added when Harry didn't reply "now come on downstairs to eat something"

**XXXXXXX**

Harry took a deep breath "here goes nothing" he mumbled Sirius barked beside him in an attempt to comfort him Harry laughed and rubbed his head "thanks Sirius" Harry said to the dog who turned into a human "it will be fine. Daphne likes you and you already have a marriage contract, they can't do anything to you"

Harry nodded, he really wished he could have Ron around for support but Sirius was against another lord, he had wanted the redhead to be there as he needed one of his best friends for support, or as it were…his only best friend.

**FLASHBACK**

"Hey people" Harry called climbing down the stairs "how are you?" "HARRY!" Mrs. Weasley ran forward and hugged him "why haven't you been eating with us the last few days?" "Uh just you know…" Ginny came to Harry's rescue "mom let him eat"

Mrs. Weasley nodded and hustled around the kitchen to get Harry something to eat "so why have you been avoiding us?" Fred asked plopping beside Harry on the dining table "yeah?" George asked sitting on Harry's other side "leave him alone you guys" Ron stood behind Harry looking quite intimidating.

Harry then noticed the sole person in the room who hadn't talked "hello Hermione; when did you arrive?" Hermione flushed and replied "just today" not meeting Harry's eyes. Further questioning had been interrupted by Mrs. Weasley brining in the food"

After Harry and Ron ate to their fill, they along with Hermione retired to the room the boys shared "so Hermione" Harry asked "what's up?" Hermione would still not meet either boy's eyes "Harry, don't take this the wrong way, but right now you are quite dangerous with you-know-who being able to possess you, so I think it might be dangerous to hang around you"

Harry blinked he had expected Hermione to be a bit cautious, but to outright avoid him, that was surprising "you bitch" Ron growled beside him "how can you say something like that so easily" "Ron, try to be logical about this" "there's nothing to be logical about" Ron retorted "Harry is our friend, he has saved us many times, and when he needs us, you're running away? Screw you fuckin bitch"

"Hermione" Harry said "I understand that you don't want to be near to me" Hermione sighed, thinking Harry was supporting her "and let me tell you, the feeling is mutual" Hermione sat straight shocked "I don't want to be friends with you either." Hermione's expression changed from shocked to furious "fine, if you can't understand me, then we shouldn't be friends."

**FLASHBACK END**

Harry took a deep breath as the fireplace lit up in emerald flames and a man stepped out of it. Alexander Greengrass was a tall man with spiky, pale blonde hair and a square jaw. He was followed by a beautiful woman with long black hair and brown eyes, _"the same as Daphne's" _Harry realized looking at the eyes of Selene Greengrass, and she was followed by Daphne and a girl with black hair and grey eyes; Daphne's sister Astoria.

"Good morning Lord Greengrass" Harry greeted the head of the Greengrass clan formally, as instructed by Sirius "lady Greengrass" he nodded towards the lady of the Greengrass house "good morning Lord Black" Alexander Greengrass greeted his daughter's betrothed.

Soon all of them were seated around the coffee table in one of the halls "it is great to finally meet you Lord Black" Mrs. Greengrass said initiating the conversation "the pleasure is all mine ma'am" Harry smiled at her and caught sight of Daphne beaming at him, glad he had learnt some tact

"Daphne has told us a lot about you" Mr. Greengrass remarked and glanced at Sirius in dog form, it was a calculating glance, and Harry saw a slight bit of fear but he let it go "and it is clear" Mr. Greengrass continued "that you are a fine young man who will take great care of our daughter." Harry's grin could have outshined any star at that moment.

**XXXXXXX**

"You did good today" Daphne smiled at Harry who smiled back at her, it was evening and her parents had left, but she had decided t stay for the rest of the holidays with him, and had even bought her trunk in a magically enlarged pocket.

"Yeah, it went better than I expected" Harry replied "hey how come your parents let you stay with a guy, unsupervised?" he asked Daphne who smirked "they trust me" she replied and wouldn't elaborate. "Hey I was wondering if I could invite Tracey and Luna" Harry raised an eyebrow "it would be good to have someone here in this big place other than just you, me and snuffles" she said gesturing towards Sirius who was eating out of a dog dish.

"Daphne" Harry said seriously "I need to tell you something" Daphne was surprised by his tone "Daphne, on the night I was sent away from Hogwarts I had seen a dream from the eyes of Voldemort, and because of this I think it might be a possibility for Voldemort to possess me"

Daphne was shocked; she had never thought that something like this was possible to Harry "I would understand if you would never want to see me again" Daphne's eyes widened and then narrowed towards a depressed Harry. Remembering what he had taught her, she grabbed his shirt collar, and threw him over her shoulder.

"Never say that again" she said to the fallen boy who was staring at her in shock, awe and a little arousal because he could see her panties "I won't" Harry said quickly getting up and hiding his red face "okay, so we'll invite Tracey and Luna, and also Ron and Neville" they continued to make small talk, not addressing the elephant in the room. But they didn't need words to convey their feelings; just being close to the other was enough.

**XXXXXXX**

"I'm glad you guys could make it" harry greeted Neville and Ron "though I'm surprised Mrs. Weasley let you out of the house" he added looking at Ron who grimaced, "it was a hard battle, but I came through" the two boys laughed at his metaphor "but seriously, she was pissed about you going off to meet some mysterious person, and not being informed and at me for hiding, so I bailed out of there"

"Ooh, you're going to be in some real trouble" Neville commented but Ron smirked "nope" Ron popped the p "I'm lord Prewett now; I'm legally an adult, she can't make control my life now" Ron's voice turned bitter near the end "so anyways" harry tried to change the subject "I was wondering if you guys would be interested in continuing the defense training"

"You're going to continue holding the DT here?" Neville asked confused "well not really" harry replied "just us people y'know because we're here and all" harry didn't add the fact that he wanted Daphne to be strong enough to beat him, if he got possessed by Voldemort.

"Sure I'm in" Ron said and Neville agreed as well "In for what?" Tracey asked appearing suddenly with Daphne and Luna "in for the extra defense training" Ron explained and Tracey nodded, Luna was staring at Neville "you head is infested with nargles" she pointed out bluntly making Ron grin "maybe you should shampoo more often" Ron whispered to Neville who elbowed him.

They were all soon chatting and laughing along, forgetting all their problems, they carried this on till late night after which the girls headed to their rooms and harry led the boys to theirs "y'know Neville" Ron said once the girls were out of earshot "you and Luna make a good pair" Neville turned red "I think of her as a good friend" Ron nodded "of course you and Theo are…I understand" Neville turned redder

"no we're not, for your information I'm totally straight" the round faced boy started to get angry "in fact I'm in a perfectly healthy relationship with Ast…" Neville shut up abruptly but the damage was done "Astoria?" harry asked surprised "don't tell Daphne" he pleaded but harry didn't seem to hear him "you're dating Daphne's little sister?" Neville paled "please don't tell Daphne" harry nodded numbly. "Now here are your rooms…" harry explained to the boys and headed off to his room.

Harry opened the door to the master bedroom to see Daphne sitting on his bed "hey" he kissed her and she responded "hey" she scooted further back lying down on the bed harry smiled and started kissing her again and fell on top of her "Daphne?" he asked against her neck "hm?" the blonde girl responded too engrossed in his chest "Thank you" "for what?" Daphne asked looking at him "for being here, for believing in me, for..." "Throwing you over my shoulder?" she asked when he seemed at a loss of words "yeah" the raven haired boy sighed "you welcome" she replied.

Harry then felt a sensation, it was a soothing sensation that seemed to fill him and empty him, all at once, he could feel it in his entire body, in his hands, in his heart, his stomach, his skin; even his genitalia "I love you" he declared without thinking

"What?" Daphne asked pushing him a bit making harry realize what he said and splutter "do you really?" harry paused at her tone and nodded "I love you Daphne, I love you with my very being" Daphne pulled harry into a deep kiss "I love you too harry" she whispered against him, making him grin like an idiot. "Harry do you want to…" "Not tonight Daph" he cut her off knowing, she was talking about sex "just let me enjoy this tonight" he murmured feeling drowsy as he buried his head in her chest

**XXXXXXX**

Harry woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and wonderful and remembered the previous night after a moment of confusion. _"God I feel great_" he told himself and stared at the beautiful woman beside him, he felt like the luckiest man in the world. Daphne opened her eyes to see harry staring at her and smiled "hey beautiful" he greeted her kissing her on the lips "hey handsome" she replied hugging him tightly.

"Daphne?" Harry said "the others are going to wake up soon" said girl sat bolt upright "we can't let them find out about us" she decided "Tracey would never let me live it down" "nor would Ron" harry agreed "okay bye" Daphne said awkwardly getting up from the bed, not wanting to leave "I'll see you in ten minutes" harry replied kissing her soundly "okay" she replied breathless

Harry smiled as he watched her leave _"life is good" _he decided as he got up to pee.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry had perhaps the best vacation of his life, he spent the days training with his friends and the nights playing around and joking, he enjoyed the company of Ron, Neville, Tracey and Luna. They were all fun to be around. But what Harry really enjoyed were the evenings he spent with Daphne. They were much more enjoyable than anything else for him, mainly because they were mostly physical.

When Harry woke up on Christmas morning, the first thing that he saw was the presents. Harry couldn't suppress his smirk and walked over to the pile and tore open his haul. He had gotten a wand holster from Daphne, a wand polishing kit from Tracey (he was pretty sure the two had planned it this way) and a locket to ward off nargles from Luna.

Remus and Sirius (who had left as he didn't fancy being a dog or the whole summer) had gotten him books on magical defence; Mrs. Weasley had sent him a Weasley jumper. Neville had gotten him a knife and Ron a shirt with the note _hint-hint. _Harry knew that it was stupid that he still wore the baggy second hands but he simply felt comfortable in them and didn't want to spend money unnecessarily.

Harry looked up as Daphne entered his room "Merry Christmas" she greeted Harry who kissed her and replied "Merry Christmas. Thanks for the holster" "and thank you for the lovely sweater" she was wearing the mentioned sweater which was a deep emerald green in colour.

"It looks great on you" Harry told her as she kissed him again "MERRY CHRISTMAS" Ron and Tracey said as they entered the room, Neville and Luna had left a few days before to spend Christmas with their families, but Ron, Tracey and Daphne had opted to stay with Harry.

"Merry Christmas" Harry greeted them as Ron said "c'mon I made breakfast" and everyone started at him. "You made it?" Tracey asked with apprehension, which went unnoticed by Ron "yeah c'mon" saying that the redhead walked out of the room.

"What now?" Daphne questioned to which Harry replied "we eat, it can't be that bad" and Harry was right. The food wasn't bad, it was quite good. "Where did you learn how to cook Ron?" Tracey asked him to which Ron winked and replied "it's a secret." He then laughed as Tracey pouted and Harry and Daphne kept asking him where he had learnt to cook.

The next few days were quite relaxing for Harry, until one evening,

"Why does Snape have to teach you occlumency?" Ron asked Harry "why can't Dumbledore?" Harry sighed and answered impatiently "I don't know Ron! I've barely spoken to Dumbledore this year if you haven't noticed" Harry had just gotten a letter from Sirius saying that Snape would be teaching him occlumency under Dumbledore's orders.

Sirius had also sent a two way mirror for Harry to contact him if Snape did anything. "But why do you need to learn occlumency?" Daphne asked Harry, he had told her about the lessons and she had told him what occlumency was.

"No idea" Harry answered as everyone leaned back into the couch. "What if..." Tracey said "it has something to do with that vision Harry had gotten?" everyone looked at her "you know with Mr. Weasley being attacked"

Harry looked thoughtful "that could be true, it could also stop my nightmares about him" "but lessons with Snape? I would rather have the nightmares" "that's not funny Ron" Daphne told him to which Ron whispered "I was being serious" and then normally "Best of luck mate" he clapped Harry on the shoulder and Harry felt as if he was getting ready for execution.

**XXXXXXX**

The end of the holidays were morose as everyone knew they were heading back to school where the ink toad would be and Harry would have to suffer with Snape. "Are you ready?" Harry asked and everyone agreed.

The group flooed into Diagon alley and walked to King's Cross station from there, and into platform 9¾. They climbed into the rain and got a compartment, uneventfully. "So Harry, will we be starting elemental spells soon?" Tracey asked Harry who shook his head "I had told everyone that we would be starting patronus, and the rest of the group does need to catch up to us"

"You mean me and Tracey right?" Daphne asked joining into the conversation "because you and Ron are still able to beat us" Daphne pouted at this making Harry kiss her "yeah but barely" "I'm more interested in learning the elemental spells myself" a voice said and everyone turned, wands in hand to the doorway to see Luna smiling dreamily.

"hello" she greeted them as they stowed away their wands "next time, begin with hello" Harry told her to which Luna replied "okay" she then sat down beside Ron and looked at Harry and Daphne "did the two of you decide to let the world know your betrothed?" Harry shook his head "we decided to let them know we're dating"

Harry and Daphne had had enough of sneaking around and were quite sure that everyone in DT suspected that they were dating and had thus decided to let the world know that they were dating.

Soon their group was joined by Ginny Weasley who froze when she saw Daphne and Tracey "Ginny" Ron noted with a nervous smile and guided her to a seat "you remember Daphne and Tracey from the DT"

Ginny saw Harry and Daphne holding hands and took a deep breath and asked Ron "so how was your summer?" they talked calmly, with Ginny being oddly formal "you two left a mess for the rest of us when you left Grimmauld place." She told Harry and Ron "mum was in a right state after you left, would get really angry at any small thing, also had a fight with Sirius about leaving Harry alone."

"What about the others?" Ron asked wondering how everyone else had reacted "Fred and George seemed to think it was awesome how you rebelled against mum, Bill and Charlie seemed okay with it as were the rest of the Order since Dumbledore had said the black castle would protect you and dad just laughed when we told him about it."

Harry noticed she didn't say anything about Hermione and wondered about it. "So how did the two of you get together?" she asked Harry who looked at Daphne and saw her chocolate brown eyes reflect trust "the truth" Daphne told Harry who smiled and turned to Ginny "okay..."

Harry told Ginny all about the marriage contract and how he and Daphne started to fall for each other as well. Ginny sighed "that's so romantic" she said, though Harry noticed that she did seem a bit sad. "Say Ginny, where did you get those earrings?" Tracey asked effectively changing the conversation to a lighter topic.

Harry shot her a look saying _"thank you" _to which Tracey winked _"my pleasure"_

**XXXXXXX**

The next day was tormenting for harry, he had to endure the glaring of Hermione and all the DT members approaching him, asking him when the next session would be, until he broadcast through the galleons 'NEXT SESSION WILL BE ON THURSDAY' and everyone left him after that.

Harry was also worried about the occlumency lesson with Snape in the evening. "It will be fine" Daphne had assured him, but harry wasn't so sure. That evening as harry was walking towards Snape's office he was intercepted by Cho Chang "hey harry" she greeted him shyly but harry didn't feel anything even slightly romantic towards her.

"Hullo" harry greeted her "um..." Cho seemed hesitant "the next Hogsmeade weekend is on valentine's day, so I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me" harry deflated "I'm sorry, I cannot come with you" Cho was crestfallen "It's okay I understand" she told harry and walked away.

Harry sighed he had had a crush on Cho ever since third year, but now he didn't feel attracted to her at all _"is this love?" _harry wondered but cleared his head as he approached Snape's office. Harry entered the office and saw it was dark and chilly with various jars having animal and plant parts lining the shelf.

"Close the door behind you potter" Snape's voice startled harry who then did as told "now you are here to learn the art of occlumency. Occlumency is the art of protecting one's mind from penetration by another person."

Harry nodded, he had read up on occlumency and legilimency when he learnt Snape was going to teach him one of them. "Now potter I need you to clear your mind" harry nodded again _"legimens" _Snape shouted and harry was assaulted by childhood memories.

Running from Dudley, staying in his cupboard, a corridor and one with Daphne "NO" harry shouted and saw the grey floor "not good enough" Snape snapped as harry glared at him "I'm trying" "try harder" Snape replied and then shouted _"legimens" _harry felt more of his memories surface, his primary school, the Dursley's and again a dark dank corridor and Voldemort's voice _"the department of mysteries" _

Harry panted, staring at the ground. He looked at Snape who was staring at him coldly "what's in the department of mysteries?" harry noted with grim satisfaction that Snape seemed to tense up at this question. "Why do you ask me that?" harry looked at the potions master dead in the eye and replied "because Voldemort has been dreaming about entering the department for most of the year, I've been seeing his dreams."

Snape replied coldly "there are many things in the department of mysteries, none of which are of your concern, just keep practicing on keeping your mind blank, same time here on Wednesday" harry replied through gritted teeth "yes sir"

Harry walked out of Snape's office determined to find out what was hidden in the department of mysteries. He hurried back to the common room and saw that it was filled, but couldn't spot Ron. He then noticed Hermione glaring at him and glared back until she looked away.

"Harry" he turned to see Fred, George and Ginny "can we talk?" Ginny asked him and he nodded and they sat around in a corner where no one would overhear them "what happened between and Hermione?" Fred asked getting straight to the point. Harry sighed; he knew he would have to explain it to them eventually.

Harry told the three Weasley's about how things had ended between him and Hermione. When he finished, Ginny seemed very angry, but Fred and George seemed calm but serious. "How can she do that?" Ginny demanded and harry replied calmly "it's her choice Ginny"

The youngest Weasley growled "I'm going to..." "Do nothing" harry interrupted her "my friendship with Hermione ended on civil terms, I don't want you to attack her out of pettiness, every person is entitled to their opinion, it isn't our right to punish them no matter how much we disagree" "But..." Fred began but harry shook his head, eventually they agreed to leave Hermione alone.

Harry soon found Ron at their dorm,, getting ready to sleep and filled him up on his discovery "so there's something in the department of mysteries that Voldemort wants?" Ron asked harry who nodded "but we don't know what it is?" again harry nodded "and Snape won't tell us what it is?" another nod.

"Not much is it" this was not a question but harry still replied "but it is something" Ron sighed and replied "let's just go to sleep" harry agreed and changed into his pyjamas and let his head hit the pillow.

Laughter, maniacal laughter was ringing in his head, joy, ecstasy, triumph he was experiencing all of it flowing through him. "Harry? HARRY?" he woke up with a start seeing Ron and Neville staring at him "what happened?" harry took a shuddering breathe feeling as if he had ran a mile "he's happy" harry told them "Voldemort's happy" Neville squeaked but Ron's eyes widened.

"What's making him happy?" Ron asked but harry shook his head he had no idea "should he be having these nightmares?" Neville asked "isn't occlumency supposed to stop it?" harry recalled what he had read about the art and answered the round faced boy. "Snape's attacks have weakened my defences for now, but they will strengthen in the long run."

No one addressed the elephant in the room. Was Snape to be trusted? "Go to sleep" harry told them and they all climbed into their beds, wondering what had happened to make Voldemort the happiest he had been in fourteen years.

**XXXXXXX**

Harry got his answer the very next day "mass breakout from Azkaban" Neville told him the next day, before he and Ron had even reached the great hall for breakfast "some of the worst death eaters have broken out of Azkaban. The minister is blaming Black" harry flushed at this "Black? You mean Sirius Black?"

Neville nodded pale "fudge says Black must be trying to help his death eater friends and rallying them" it took all of Harry's willpower not to scream about his godfather's innocence. Harry turned to Ron who seemed to be as pale as a ghost.

Harry rushed to the great hall and sat at the Gryffindor table; he searched the Slytherin table for Daphne and saw her and Tracey reading the prophet. Harry wanted to go over and talk to her but he relented. They had decided to let their relationship be known only after Valentine's Day, not before that.

Harry saw his betrothed look up and gave her an expression saying _'I need to talk to you' _and she replied _'okay' _over the month's they had gotten quite good at communicating through expressions. Harry finished his breakfast and waited until Daphne left the hall and went outside after that. He caught a glimpse of her entering an empty classroom and followed her in after making sure that no one was watching.

"Hey beautiful" he greeted her with a kiss "good morning to you too harry" she replied with a sigh "how have you been?" she asked him and harry took a deep breath and told her everything that had happened since the start of the term "so Chang asked you out?" she asked narrowing her eyes

"That's what you noticed?" harry asked her incredulously "it isn't even important" "of course it isn't girls flirting with you is totally normal isn't it?" Daphne answered scathingly "what's that supposed to mean?" harry asked angrily

"You're the boy who lived, you're every girl's dream husband" Daphne sneered at harry who was seeing red in anger "is that what you think I am? The boy who lived?" harry demanded "is that all you think I am?" Daphne was on a roll now "oh no you're also the school heartthrob aren't you"

Harry had had enough "says the girl who appears is every guys dream and gives them erections" Daphne wanted to punch him "then go on and date Chang for all I care, hell go and knock her up" "maybe I will" harry replied heatedly and paled when he realised what he had said.

Daphne's eyes watered and she walked away "Daphne..." harry reached for her only for her to turn around, her wand pointed at him "don't touch me" she then walked away leaving harry wondering what he had done.


	7. Chapter 7

Out of all things, Harry did not think he would spend the morning of St. Valentine's Day with Luna Lovegood and Rita Skeeter at the three broomsticks. "So who's idea was this again?" Harry asked still trying to process the unreal scenario of sitting on the same table as Luna Lovegood and Rita Skeeter, one staring blankly into space and the other glaring at the former.

"It was Hermione's idea originally, but she hasn't really been talkative after the holidays so I went ahead with the plan myself" Luna answered happily as the illegal animagus continued to glare at them.

"That bushy haired girl promised not to tell anyone about my secret, that was our agreement!" Skeeter complained as Harry sighed, thinking this was a very Hermione thing to do.

"She may have, but I'm not friends with her anymore so don't complain to me" Harry replied but regretted when he saw a twinkle in the woman's eyes.

"Really? What happened that separated your little group of..." Skeeter was interrupted by Luna loudly clearing her throat. "Just write the story you are told to write, or else I have another one that might greatly interest the ministry"

Skeeter narrowed her eyes at the thinly veiled threat "very well" she replied curtly and pulled out her quill and pad and turned to Harry and told him "fire away boy. Fire away" Harry wondered if publishing his version of Cedric's death was such a good idea, this was one of Hermione's ideas after all but Harry decided to trust Luna on this one.

It was difficult for Harry to talk about the night Cedric had died, he had given every little detail he could think of, it had been like he was at the graveyard all over again.

After an hour of gruesome recollection Harry breathed a sigh of relief "I'll tell you when the story is published" Luna told Harry who nodded and left the three broomsticks. _"Where do I go now?" _Harry wondered.

He still wasn't on speaking terms with Daphne, he knew that Tracey would be with her, and Ginny probably had a date with her boyfriend. He guessed Neville was on a date with Astoria. That left Ron.

Harry sighed and began walking in the direction he was pretty sure Ron was at, Harry was feeling like an idiot ever since the argument with Daphne, but he refused to apologize _"she was the one who over reacted, let her apologize" _Harry mentally defended himself from himself _"I'm definitely going insane" _he concluded and stopped in front of the hog's head.

Harry took a deep breath and stepped into the pub. Sure enough Ron was sitting by the corner, with a drink, surprisingly though he seemed to be talking to Theo Nott. Harry liked the Slytherin and knew he was good friends with Neville, Harry had talked to him and knew that he didn't support the pureblood ideals, he knew that his dad was a death eater but didn't talk about fighting or opposing him Harry guessed because it would be hard to go against family.

"Hey guys" Harry greeted the two and sat down "wha'cha talking about?" Theo suppressed a smile and said "Ron was laminating about his lack of popularity with the girls" Harry opened his mouth in surprise and closed it quickly.

Ron was actually popular with the girls to the point that the boys were betting on which girl would snag Ron, "maybe it's because you barely talk to them" Harry suggested trying not to laugh as well. "You should interact with them to show them who you are and pique their interest in you"

Theo nodded "yeah that'll get them interested in you" he then raised his voice and said "can I have another glass of rum and coke?"

Harry's eyes widened "You're drinking alcohol?" Theo nodded "we're laminating our bachelor status, what about you?" Harry sighed and decided to answer truthfully "had a fight with Daphne"

Theo turned to the barkeeper again "some gin and tonic for the gentleman here" Harry shook his head "I shouldn't be drinking" Ron pulled him down onto a chair and said "neither should we but its valentine's day and we're all single so screw it"

Harry sighed and took a sip of the gin and tonic, Harry found the taste sharp but drank it up anyways "that wasn't so bad" he told them an shivered when he saw the two smirk at each other "five gilly water shots and one vodka soda please" Ron called to the bartender who nodded

Harry turned to Theo "what is gilly water?" the Slytherin shrugged and replied "um... a distilled beverage made from gilly weed" Harry groaned as the shots came "are these neat shots?" Harry asked to which the bartender shook his head

"Nay, they are mixed with 7up and sugar syrup" Harry still didn't understand how wizards could be completely oblivious to the muggle way of life but still enjoy their non-alcoholic beverages so much.

Harry turned to Theo and Ron who were looking at him eagerly "you want me to do shots?" both of them nodded in disturbing unison

"I'll do them" Neville said from behind Harry startling all of them

"Neville!" Theo said "what are you doing here? I thought you had a date with Astoria" Neville sighed an plunked down on the seat between Theo and Harry opposite to Ron "I did have a date" Neville replied

"So what happened?" Theo asked but Neville didn't answer him and started with the shots. After the fifth shot, Neville sighed and told them "I got dumped by Astoria"

"WHAT?" the three other boys shouted attracting the attention of everyone else in the bar. The three boys looked sheepish but turned to Neville after everybody looked away "how did that happen?" Theo asked the round faced boy who sighed and replied

"It was at madam putifoot's tea shop, she said that I lacked passion" Neville then asked the bartender for a Firewhiskey and coke "I mean you would figure out I'm not a passionate guy by talking to me for a few minutes, why would it take her four months to figure it out?"

"Girls are crazy like that, one moment they're all nice and understanding, the next moment their priorities change and they're all snappish and you both say things you would regret" Harry sighed as the other boys glanced at him warily, sipping his butterbeer like nothing was wrong

"What happened with you and Daphne?" Neville asked to which Harry sighed and told them what had happened between the two of them and by the end of his story the three other boys were looking at him open-mouthed.

"That's it?" Ron asked Harry incredulously "you argued with her about your priorities?"

"You're acting as if it's a small thing" Harry argued and a voice in his head said sardonically _"it is a small thing"_

"Harry" Theo said slowly "Daphne had every right to be concerned about some other girl making a move on you"

"Yeah but she didn't have to act like it was the only thing that mattered" Harry countered and felt a bit of grim satisfaction

"Harry" Neville spoke up "Daphne is a girl, it's her job to make sure other girls don't flirt with you the same way it's a guys job to protect his girl when she needs it, she had every right to be concerned and you were being inconsiderate and a jerk"

Harry stared at his friends "you think I was wrong?" they answered in perfect unison "yeah; Yeah you were!"

Harry took Ron's rum and coke and gulped it down "I gotta go" he said his green eyes glittering with determination and ran off, probably to find Daphne.

"Should we follow him?" Theo asked and Ron replied "we should be giving him his privacy" after a moment of surreal calmness the three boys got up to follow their friend.

**XXXXXXX**

Harry ran down the street wondering where he could find Daphne _"she could be anywhere in the village, heck she might not even have come to the village" _Harry skidded to a halt as he saw Daphne and Tracey walking down the road. Daphne looked miserable and Tracey seemed to be trying to cheer her up.

"Daphne" he called to her as he reached her "what?" she asked angry and sullen "I'm sorry" Harry told her, not noticing Tracey move away discreetly, or the bystanders staring at them and whispering.

"You're sorry?" Daphne asked narrowing her eyes at him.

"I'm really sorry?" Harry answered weakly as she still glared at him "I know I was a jerk especially when I said I might go out with Cho Chang. I was being an idiot and you have every right to throw me over your shoulder...again" Daphne chuckled at this and Harry felt hopeful "I now know I was an idiot, please give me a chance to make things right"

Daphne seemed to be contemplating what he had said "promise me this will never happen again" she told Harry who replied eagerly "I promise, I was being an idiot and not thinking straight and..." Harry was cut off by Daphne kissing him on the lips.

Harry put his hands on her waist and deepened the kiss, not caring that half the school was watching them.

"Did they make up?" Ron asked Tracey and he skidded to a halt beside her "no they're just making out cause they hate each other" Tracey replied sarcastically making Ron laugh

"Good for Harry" Neville commented gasping lightly "things have been looking up in his life, ever since he got the orb of wishes"

"Y'know" Theo spoke "it is weird that Harry would just smash a glass orb appearing in his room suddenly. He told us he didn't know what it was so why would he break it?"

"A compulsion charm" Luna said from beside Theo scaring the group "the orb is charmed to give a feeling of safety and a need to break it, so that the person cannot save it for some future crisis"

"Oh" Theo said and Neville asked "did we pay the bill at the hog's head?" the other two boys paled

"You boys are drinking?" Tracey asked "I want in" "me too" Luna piqued Ron and Theo looked at Neville who shrugged and replied

"Okay but what about those two..." the round faced boy turned towards where the boy-who-lived and his betrothed had been standing only to find the place empty.

"They must've gone up the castle" Ron deducted and the five friends headed back to the bar, laughing and chatting

**XXXXXXX**

The five friends stumbled into the great hall tipsy and laughing "look" Ron said "they have mashed potatoes and roast chicken" Tracey giggled "sound deeelicious" Neville then stared at the Gryffindor table "look Harry and Daphne are there, let's sit with them"

What the five friends didn't realise was that Harry and Daphne were the main gossip in the great hall which was the only reason their arrival had gone unnoticed "hey Harry, hellooo Daphne" Ron greeted them as they sat down

"How drunk are you guys?" Harry whispered to Ron furiously as Daphne glared at Tracey "why were you drinking?"

"Hello kids" Fred greeted the group as he and George sat in front of the group "we are so proud-" "-of you Ron for breaking-" "-the rules with your friends" the twins said as Ron blinked

"I'm proud of you two too" he pulled George's cheeks "you two make me look nice with your habits"

Fred blinked "yeah but we've never gotten drunk and swagger into the great hall"

"It's called having guts in your buts" Neville countered and broke into a fit of giggles

"There are so many nargles in the air tonight" Luna observed looking around strangely, alcohol didn't seem to have any visible effect on her

"That's cuz it's Valentine's Day" Theo replied and patted her head making the blonde girl go "humph"

"Stow it Umbridge's coming" Fred said as all of them sat up straight pretending to be statues

"Is there any problem here?" she asked in her sickly sweet voice as Harry shook his head "we're al fine"

"Ms. Greengrass, Ms. Davis, Ms. Lovegood and Mr. Nott; why aren't you sitting with your houses?" Theo looked at Umbridge and replied "sitting with houses is necessary only during special feasts, otherwise we can sit wherever we want."

"Hem hem" Umbridge cleared her throat and walked away.

Harry, Daphne Fred and George quickly finished their dinner and drank the drunk people to the room of requirement and gave them sobering potions.

"ugh" Neville grunted as the hangover came to him "we may have drank a bit too much"

"Too much?" Harry demanded furiously "you guys couldn't stand straight, how stupid can you be?"

"Calm down Harry" Daphne soothed but Harry was on a role "do you know what could have happened if you had been caught? You could have been expelled."

"Sorry dad" Ron mocked as he others stared between him and Harry in horror

"You think it's funny?" Harry hissed at Ron who got up from his chair "a bit y'know" Ron answered shrugging as Harry glared at him.

"You got to admit it was something people will talk about for a long time" Ron told Harry who slapped his palm to his face

"You're all idiots" Harry told them as they smirked and laughed.

"We should be going now" Daphne said as Tracey and Theo followed her

"I should too" Luna said and left the room behind the Slytherin's.

"Now all that is left is to see is what happens up ahead" Harry murmured as they exited the room of requirements.

**XXXXXXX**

Daphne, Tracey and Theo were confronted in the dungeon, "good evening Malfoy" Daphne smiled mockingly at him as he and his cronies blocked their way

"Greengrass" he replied calmly "why are you betraying your house?"

"Betraying my house?" Daphne raised an eyebrow "I am simply in a relationship with Harry. My house has no business with my personal life"

"You are spitting on the ideologies of the Slytherin house" Pansy answered from beside Zabini

"And you Theo" Crabbe spoke up "I thought you would have been smarter with your family's name..."

"Leave my name out of this will you" Theo interrupted Crabbe smiling at him.

"Our friends are none of your business" Tracey told the five who stood opposite to them as Zabini answered "you've made it our business"

Tracey narrowed her eyes and answered "mind your own business"

Zabini growled and fired a stunner as Daphne raised a shield.

Nott shot out towards Malfoy who burst forth as well as spells shot out from both parties. Theo brought his claymore down in a vertical slash, only for it to be blocked by Malfoy's sabre.

"Surprise" Malfoy remarked as Theo parried his blow, both boys oblivious to the spells flying around them.

Daphne and Tracey were outnumbered but were not outgunned. They were able to shift between defensive and offensive spells with amazing dexterity but were not able to outmatch them due to the superior numbers.

"aargh" Zabini fell and Daphne and Tracey wondered, what happened because neither shot the spell.

Goyle turned around to see Astoria Greengrass pointing a wand and pansy and shot a spell at her forcing her to dodge. Daphne shrieked seeing her sister dodge the spell and shot a stunner at Goyle who was pushed out of the way by Crabbe as he aimed another curse at Tracey.

The group then heard footsteps echoing through the dungeon and Theo and Draco stopped their fight as Pansy woke up Zabini and Daphne and Tracey rushed over to Astoria.

"What are you kids doing here?" came the silky voice of the Slytherin head of house.

"Just chatting" Goyle remarked as the others nodded trying to appear innocent.

"Well go to your dormitories" Snape told them as they calmly headed back to the Slytherin dorms.

"This is not over" Draco told them not even deigning them a look

"Not by a long shot" Daphne glowered glaring at the back of his head.

Luna hummed as she entered the Ravenclaw common room. "Hey loony" she heard a voice and sighed as she turned to the person who spoke up "what Chang?" she smiled pleasantly at her.

"What is going on between Harry and that Greengrass slut?" she demanded Luna who frowned "well if you want to know, you have to ask them, and by the way, don't call Daphne a slut"

Cho pointed her wand in Luna's face and said "don't fuck with me. Tell me all that you know about Harry and that slut" faster than Cho could see, Luna had pulled out her wand and stunned Cho. Cho's friend Marietta came forward but Luna kicked her in the stomach and sent her tumbling.

Luna looked around to see if anyone else would come forward, and then hummed as she went up to her dormitory. Luna Lovegood was done being bullied.

"I hope you are proud of yourselves" Hermione told Ron scathingly in the common room.

"What?" Ron feigned innocence

"You arrived to the great hall drunk" she whispered furiously

"Oh that" Ron answered "yeah I am kind of proud" Neville snickered behind him.

"You think this is funny?" Hermione demanded from Neville who looked her in the eye and answered her

"Yeah, yeah I do!" Harry clapped him on the back as Ron murmured "respect"

"I thought you of all people would be more responsible Neville" Hermione told him as Neville smirked.

"You're wrong Hermione! Something quite common these days for you" Hermione stomped off as Harry and Ron roared with laughter.

**XXXXXXX**

It had been a couple of weeks since the trip to Hogsmeade, the whole school was buzzing, with news of Harry and Daphne in a relationship, the civil war in Slytherin due to the relationship and Luna Lovegood's retaliation to anyone trying to bully her.

There had been a great deal of gossip and muttering about Harry as he was back to being the centre of attention. There were many envious glares directed at both him and Daphne, but no one would dare attack either of them. Luna too had garnered some attention as her bullies had tried to harm her but she had hexed them straight to the hospital bed and people now tried to avoid her.

Neville too had become a serious topic, perhaps more so than Harry, due to his standing up to Snape and getting a week of detention which Theo shared when he supported Neville against Snape. The only people in their group being spared the drama were Tracey and Ron who had been spending an increasing amount of time together leading to much speculation within the group.

Harry and group were having breakfast when an owl landed near Harry "it's the new issue of the quibbler" Luna informed the others who looked puzzled at that very moment a parliament of owls descended on them.

"Letters from your admirers I suppose" Ron told Harry sardonically. Daphne help up a letter and looked at Harry with big doleful eyes "can we..."

"Go ahead" Harry told her, never being able to resist her sad eyes.

Soon all of them were tearing open the letters. Half of them were telling they believed Harry while the other half informed him he was raving. And one particularly was in two minds.

"What is going on here?" the sickly sweet voice of Umbridge was heard from behind Neville.

"Harry got some mail. Is that a crime?" Theo asked the toad mockingly making her glare at him.

"Be careful mister Nott or you might find yourself in detention" she told Theo who gave her a fake smile.

Harry really wanted to see her pissed so he decided to be upfront "these are responses from my interview" he told her and showed her the article. Umbridge read the article as her face went from pink to red in anger.

"How could you?" she glared at Harry who calmly answered "well the reporter asked me the questions and I answered them"

"There will be no more Hogsmeade trips for you Mr. Potter" Umbridge croaked as she walked away.

Umbridge banned people from reading the quibbler which ensured everyone read Harry's article. The article seemed to have the effect they were hoping for. More and more people seemed to believe Harry, many came to him and apologized for their behaviour. Others started to rebel against Umbridge and the best part was that many Slytherin's were being nice to him as well. Luna told him that no issue of quibbler had sold out so fast before, and the best part was Harry knew that Malfoy had read the article but couldn't confront him about it.

"What now?" Harry asked Ron as they enjoyed butterbeer on a Sunday afternoon.

"It's their move mate" Ron told him seriously "and I'm curious and worried about what that old toad will do."

"Well whatever she does, we'll be ready" Daphne soothed Harry who kissed her.

"We're not the only ones on her hit list" Ron stated


End file.
